hearken

hearken back to (something)

1. To recall or remind one of something in the past. ("Hearken" is actually an archaic word meaning "to listen," but it is more commonly used in place "hark" for this idiomatic phrase in contemporary English.) That song hearkens back to an earlier time in my life. The diner is clearly trying to hearken back to the aesthetics of the early 1950s.
2. To have originated or begun as something. You know, our modern cell phones hearken back to those old rotary phones you like to make fun of.
3. To revisit or think again about something mentioned earlier. Before we get too upset, let's all hearken back to the real reason we're here today.
See also: back, hearken

hearken to (someone or something)

To listen closely or attentively to something. Edgar, hearken to that sound—I think someone's coming!
See also: hearken
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

hearken to someone or something

Formal or stilted to listen to someone or something; to pay attention to someone or something. Please hearken to me. I speak the truth. Hearken to the call of the nightingale.
See also: hearken
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • be/go back to square one
  • back to square one
  • come back and see us
  • a while back
  • break one's neck, to
  • carry (one) back
  • carry back
  • back
  • back at (something or some place)
  • back of something
References in periodicals archive
The tone, subject matter, and allegorical elements hearken back to older books for young readers, like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or A Wrinkle in Time.
In order to ensure "We the People" ran smoothly, LancasterOnline partnered with Hearken, which provides media organizations with a platform and a series of tools for public-powered journalism projects.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction saw fit on Thursday to hearken back to Nazi German anti-Semitism, and pay tribute to the genocidal Jew hatred that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu last week highlighted had Palestinian influences.
Passover, Sukkot, and Shavuot are harvest festivals that hearken back to a time when Jews were farmers just like everyone around them.
These patents hearken back to an earlier era of mobile computing, with origins in Palm Inc., which was acquired by HP in 2010.
The Ghost Light Players say the company will "hearken back to the days of old, when traveling troupes entertained their patrons with little more than a few props, masterful skills and an avid love of theater.
All four things Ablow predict hearken back to Anthony's behavior before her arrest.
The book will be of interest to the general reader, especially those who hearken back to the days of Bush.
NOW are the days, of humblest prayer, when consciences to God lie bare, And mercy most delights to spare, Oh hearken when we cry.
With its soaring spire, 40 Wall stands distinctly among the handful of pyramidal-topped towers in Lower Manhattan that hearken to the district's 20th Century heyday as the city's premiere commercial office district.
Instead, the authors hearken back to God's covenant with His people, citing a Christian's duty to seek justice and offer hospitality to the least of one's neighbors.
And, just in case a prophet should be filled with delusions of grandeur and start speaking on his own, God has a warning: "But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak--that prophet shall die." Here in Deuteronomy, where God is reaffirming God's covenant with Israel, and the nature of God's relationship with God's people is reinterpreted and reinforced, God reminds Israel that they are to hearken only to the words of the Lord and not to follow false prophets or false gods.
5 NICOLE EISENMAN Half of the new drawing shows I've seen lately hearken back to Eisenman's mid-'90s work (where punk meets Ashcan).
A lot of lesbian filmmakers are trying to do very edgy work, but Intentions seems to hearken back to a more classic model of film.
Columbia has been used in hospitals and, nursing homes for over a century, and the new institutional packaging debuting at the end of the second quarter will hearken back to the product's look in the 1930s, according to a spokesman for the supplier.