hark

[hahrk] /hɑrk/
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 phrases
4.
hark back,
  1. (of hounds) to return along the course in order to regain a lost scent.
  2. to return to a previous subject or point; revert:
    He kept harking back to his early days in vaudeville.
Origin
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
Related forms
unharked, adjective
Synonyms
4b. refer, allude; regress, retrogress.
British Dictionary definitions for hark back

hark back

verb
1.
(intransitive, adverb) to return to an earlier subject, point, or position, as in speech or thought

hark

/hɑːk/
verb
1.
(intransitive; usually imperative) to listen; pay attention
Word Origin
Old English heorcnian to hearken; related to Old Frisian herkia, Old High German hōrechen; see hear
Word Origin and History for hark back

hark

v.

late 12c., from Old English *heorcian, perhaps an intensive form from base of hieran (see hear). Cf. talk/tale. Cognate with Old Frisian harkia "listen," Middle Dutch horken, Old High German horechon, German horchen. To hark back (1829) originally referred to hounds returning along a track when the scent has been lost, till they find it again. Related: Harked; harking.

Idioms and Phrases with hark back

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 ]