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hark back

 - 4 dictionary results

hark

  [hahrk]
Use hark back in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to listen attentively; hearken.
–verb (used with object)
2. Archaic. to listen to; hear.
–noun
3. a hunter's shout to hounds, as to encourage them in following the scent.
—Verb phrase
4. hark back,
a. (of hounds) to return along the course in order to regain a lost scent.
b. to return to a previous subject or point; revert: He kept harking back to his early days in vaudeville.
Origin:
1175–1225; ME herken, earlier herkien, OE *heorcian; c. OFris herkia, harkia; akin to MD harken, MHG, G horchen. See hearken; hear

Synonyms:
4b. refer, allude; regress, retrogress.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To hark back
hark   (härk)   
intr.v.   harked, hark·ing, harks
To listen attentively.

[Middle English harken, herken, from Old English *heorcian.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

hark 
c.1175, from O.E. *heorcian (related to hearken), an intensive form from base of hieran (see hear). To hark back (1829) originally refers to hounds returning along a track when the scent has been lost, till they find it again.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

hark back

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]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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