hark back

See also: hark-back

English

WOTD – 2 May 2021

Etymology

From hark (“to listen attentively”) + back (“to or in a previous condition or place”, adverb), originally a hunting command to hounds meaning “Listen! Go back!”.

Pronunciation

• Verb:
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌhɑːk ˈbæk/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌhɑɹk ˈbæk/
  • Rhymes: -æk
• Noun:
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑːkbæk/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑɹkˌbæk/

Verb

hark back (third-person singular simple present harks back, present participle harking back, simple past and past participle harked back)

1. (intransitive)
   1. (hunting) Of hounds: to retrace a course in order to pick up the lost scent of prey.
   2. (by extension) To return to where one has previously been; to retrace one's steps.

      Synonym: go back

      • 1885, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “Hans’ City of Rest”, in The Witch’s Head […], volume III, London: Hurst and Blackett, […], →OCLC, page 18:

        He must have overshot the mark, and must hark back. So he turned his weary horse's head, and made his way back along the road to the spot where his spoor struck into it.

   3. (figuratively) To allude, return, or revert (to a subject previously mentioned, etc.); also, to evoke, or long or pine for (a past era or event). [from 19th c.]

      Synonyms: harken back, hearken back (both sometimes proscribed); call back

      • 1881, W[illiam] E[dward] Norris, “A Racecourse and a Cathedral”, in Matrimony. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 76–77:

        Mr. Flemyng, who had been assuaging his thirst with more champagne during the afternoon, had harked back to the subject of his morning's discourse, and was laying down an authoritative scheme of ethics, in the course of which sundry hard words, such as transcendentalism, pseudo-materialism and the like, lost a syllable here and there.

      • 2006 September 11, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Bush Mourns 9/11 at Ground Zero as N.Y. Remembers”, in The New York Times‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 December 2020:

        Harking back to the theme of a series of speeches he [George W. Bush] delivered last week, he said he was reminded that "there's still an enemy out there that would like to inflict the same kind of damage again."

2. (transitive, hunting) To call back (hounds); to recall.

Usage notes

The forms harken back and hearken back have been used since the 1930s, and the bare form harken has been used since the 1980s, though some authorities frown on these and prefer the traditional form hark back.

The eggcorn harp back (influenced by harp on) is occasionally found, but is generally regarded as an error.

Derived terms

• hark-back (noun)

Translations

of hounds: to retrace a course in order to pick up the lost scent of prey

• Finnish: hakea jälki uudelleen
• German: auf etw. zurückgreifen, zurückgreifen (de)
• Spanish: desandar (es)

to allude, return, or revert to (a subject previously mentioned, etc.); to evoke, or long or pine for (a past era or event)

• Finnish: palata (fi) (to return or revert); kaivata (fi), ikävöidä (fi) (to long for)
• Spanish: rememorar (es), retrotraer (es), remontarse (es), retrotraerse (es)

to call back (hounds) — see recall

See also

• good old days, halcyon days

Noun

hark back (plural hark backs)

1. Alternative form of hark-back
   1. (hunting) An act of hounds retracing a course in order to pick up the lost scent of prey.
   2. (figuratively) An act of alluding, returning, or reverting (to a subject previously mentioned, etc.); also, an act of evoking, or longing or pining for (a past era or event).

Alternative forms

• hark-back

Translations

act of hounds retracing a course in order to pick up the lost scent of prey

act of alluding, returning, or reverting (to a subject previously mentioned, etc.); act of evoking, or long or pining for (a past era or event)

Further reading

• “hark back, v.” under “hark, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2020.
• “hark back, n.” under “hark, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2019.
• “hark back, phrasal v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Merriam–Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1994, →ISBN, page 497.