hark

[ hahrk ]

/ hɑrk /

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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.

OTHER WORDS FOR hark

4b refer, allude; regress, retrogress.

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QUIZ

CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?

There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?

Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

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

OTHER WORDS FROM hark

un·harked, adjective

How to use hark in a sentence

Are you still harking back to where you came from or where you are?
India Row Evokes Cricket’s Ultranationalist Tebbit Test|Tunku Varadarajan|March 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Radin noticed that some of the contemporary work was referential—harking back to Vermeer, say, or Raphael.
The Art App Boom|Spencer Bailey|August 27, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Now, in harking back to the origin of these acquired habits, if I interrogate the possibilities I obtain zero as the only answer.
More Hunting Wasps|J. Henri Fabre
Meanwhile, despite her injunctions to her husband to wait and be patient, his mind kept harking back on this curious recollection.
Somehow Good|William de Morgan

It is moreover quite inartistic in its harking back to the story of the arrest after giving fuller details.
What Gunpowder Plot Was|Samuel Rawson Gardiner
Gilder betook himself to evasion by harking back to the established ground of complaint.
Within the Law|Marvin Dana
This was harking back to the very first night Ruth had arrived at Cheslow from her old home at Darrowtown.
Ruth Fielding At Sunrise Farm|Alice B. Emerson

British Dictionary definitions for hark

hark

/ (hɑːk) /

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

hark

OTHER WORDS FOR hark

Origin of hark

OTHER WORDS FROM hark

Words related to hark

How to use hark in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for hark

Word Origin for hark