hark
pronunciation
How to pronounce hark in British English:
UK [hɑ:k]
How to pronounce hark in American English:
US [hɑrk]
-
- Verb:
- listen; used mostly in the imperative
Word Origin
- hark (v.)
- c. 1200, from Old English *heorcian "to hearken, listen," perhaps an intensive form from base of hieran (see hear). Compare talk/tale. Cognate with Old Frisian harkia "listen," Middle Dutch horken, Old High German horechon, German horchen. Used as a hunting cry to call attention. To hark back (1817) originally referred to hounds returning along a track when the scent has been lost, till they find it again (1814). Related: Harked; harking.
Example
- 1. Many hark back to an era when the state protected them from crude market forces .
- 2. Suggesting inflation in a recession is not to hark back to the phillips curve , which depicts an inverse relation between unemployment and inflation rates .
- 3. Yemen 's jews , who speak arabic , hark back to a time when it was possible to have a shared jewish and arab identity .
- 4. Critics , however , hark back to a controversial 2007 american national intelligence estimate that concluded iran had indeed had a warhead-building programme but ended it in 2003 .