Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
hark back en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˌhɑːk ˈbæk/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˈhɑɹkˌbæk/ (General-American)
- /ˌhɑɹk ˈbæk/ (General-American)
- (Southern-England) audio
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈhɑːkbæk/ (Received-Pronunciation)
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!”.
Meanings
-
Alternative form of hark-back. ▸ An act of hounds retracing a course in order to pick up the lost scent of prey.
-
(figuratively) Alternative form of hark-back. ▸ 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).
Forms
hark back en · VERB
Pronunciation
- /ˌhɑːk ˈbæk/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˌhɑɹk ˈbæk/ (General-American)
- (Southern-England) audio
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!”.
Meanings
-
(intransitive) Of hounds: to retrace a course in order to pick up the lost scent of prey.
-
(broadly, intransitive) To return to where one has previously been; to retrace one's steps.
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.
1885, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “Hans’ City of Rest”, in The Witch’s Head […], volume III, London: Hurst and Blackett, […], →OCLC, page 18:
-
(figuratively, intransitive) To allude, return, or revert (to a subject previously mentioned, etc.); also, to evoke, or long or pine for (a past era or event).
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.
1881, W[illiam] E[dward] Norris, “A Racecourse and a Cathedral”, in Matrimony. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 76–77: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."
2006 September 11, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Bush Mourns 9/11 at Ground Zero as N.Y. Remembers”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Dec 2020:
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(transitive) To call back (hounds); to recall.
Forms
Deriveds
hark-back
Relateds
good old days · halcyon days
Synonyms
call back · harken back · go back · hearken back
Translations (13)
de auf etw. zurückgreifen (of hounds: to retrace a course in order to pick up the lost scent of prey) · es retrotraerse (to allude, return, or revert to (a subject previously mentioned, etc.); to evoke, or long or pine for (a past era or event)) · es remontarse (to allude, return, or revert to (a subject previously mentioned, etc.); to evoke, or long or pine for (a past era or event)) · es desandar (of hounds: to retrace a course in order to pick up the lost scent of prey) · fi palata (to allude, return, or revert to (a subject previously mentioned, etc.); to evoke, or long or pine for (a past era or event)) · es rememorar (to allude, return, or revert to (a subject previously mentioned, etc.); to evoke, or long or pine for (a past era or event)) · es evocar (to allude, return, or revert to (a subject previously mentioned, etc.); to evoke, or long or pine for (a past era or event)) · es remembrar (to allude, return, or revert to (a subject previously mentioned, etc.); to evoke, or long or pine for (a past era or event)) · de zurückgreifen (of hounds: to retrace a course in order to pick up the lost scent of prey) · fi ikävöidä (to allude, return, or revert to (a subject previously mentioned, etc.); to evoke, or long or pine for (a past era or event)) · fi kaivata (to allude, return, or revert to (a subject previously mentioned, etc.); to evoke, or long or pine for (a past era or event)) · fi hakea jälki uudelleen (of hounds: to retrace a course in order to pick up the lost scent of prey) · es retrotraer (to allude, return, or revert to (a subject previously mentioned, etc.); to evoke, or long or pine for (a past era or event))
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