hark back

verb

1. (intr, adverb) to return to an earlier subject, point, or position, as in speech or thought

Idioms and Phrases

Return to a previous point, as in Let us hark back briefly to my first statement. This expression originally alluded to hounds retracing their course when they have lost their quarry's scent. It may be dying out. [First half of 1800s]

Example Sentences

The commuters in “Le Métro” hark back to his early streetcar scenes but now there’s an air of mystery to the straphangers, with the central figure’s face obscured and bisected by a subway pole.

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The name harks back to historic preparations for winter in the northern hemisphere, where people would hunt and preserve meats.

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Like is fellow crew, his words hark back to a bygone space age, and the words of then President John F. Kennedey in 1962:

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The song's lyrics hark back to the start of a soured relationship: "I had all and then most of you / Some and now none of you / Take me back to the night we met."

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Its title appears to hark back to the singer's 2012 hit Boyfriend, featuring the line "swag, swag, swag, on you".

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Related Words

• degenerate 
• go back 
• react 
• regress 
• turn back