hark

[hahrk]

verb (used without object)

to listen attentively; hearken.

verb (used with object)

Archaic. to listen to; hear.

noun

a hunter's shout to hounds, as to encourage them in following the scent.

Verb Phrases

hark back,

(of hounds) to return along the course in order to regain a lost scent.
to return to a previous subject or point; revert: He kept harking back to his early days in vaudeville.

Origin of hark

1175–1225; Middle English herken, earlier herkien, Old English *heorcian; cognate with Old Frisian herkia, harkia; akin to Middle Dutch harken, Middle High German, German horchen. See hearken, hear

Related formsun·harked, adjective

Synonyms for hark

4b. refer, allude; regress, retrogress.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for harking

listen

Examples from the Web for harking

Historical Examples of harking

Or—harking back to her original theory—that he was an emissary from Scotland Yard?
The Black Bag
Louis Joseph Vance
There has never been any attempt at harking back to earlier periods.
Venice
Dorothy Menpes
This, for Plotinos, was harking back to Numenius's evil world-soul, fr.
Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 4
Plotinos (Plotinus)
She could only do so, however, by harking back—as if it had been a fascination.
The Golden Bowl
Henry James
Why do you keep on harking back to the subject when I have spoken so plainly?
Fan
W.H. Hudson (AKA Henry Harford)

British Dictionary definitions for harking

hark

verb

(intr; usually imperative) to listen; pay attention

Word Origin for hark

Old English heorcnian to hearken; related to Old Frisian herkia, Old High German hōrechen; see hear

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for harking

hark

late 12c., from Old English *heorcian, perhaps an intensive form from base of hieran (see hear). Cf. talk/tale. Cognate with Old Frisian harkia "listen," Middle Dutch horken, Old High German horechon, German horchen. To hark back (1829) originally referred to hounds returning along a track when the scent has been lost, till they find it again. Related: Harked; harking.