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Webster 1913 Edition


Harken

Hark′en

(härk′’n)
,
Verb.
T.
&
I.
To hearken.
Tennyson.

Definition 2024


Harken

Harken

See also: harken

German

Noun

Harken

  1. plural of Harke

harken

harken

See also: Harken

English

Verb

harken (third-person singular simple present harkens, present participle harkening, simple past and past participle harkened)

  1. Alternative spelling of hearken ‘to listen, hear, regard’, more common form in the US.
  2. (figuratively, US) To hark back, to return or revert (to a subject etc.), to allude to, to evoke, to long or pine for (a past event or era).
    • 1994, David Coogan, Electronic Writing Centers: Computing the Field of Composition, page 4
      The emerging consensus that writing was merely transcribed speech, then, harkened back to the pre-disciplinary, liberal arts college
    • 2005, Carol Padden, Tom L. Humphries, Inside Deaf Culture, page 48
      Bell argued that the manual approach was "backwards," and harkened to a primitive age where humans used gesture and pantomime.

Usage notes

The bare form harken has been used since the 1980s, though some authorities frown upon this and prefer the traditional form hark back.

References

  • harken in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • Merriam-Webster’s dictionary of English usage, 1995, p. 497
  • Hark/Hearken”, Paul Brians, Common Errors in English Usage, (2nd Edition, November, 2008)

Anagrams


Dutch

Pronunciation

Etymology

From early modern Dutch harcken, hercken, from hark (rake).

Verb

harken

  1. to rake, to use the rake on

Inflection

Inflection of harken (weak)
infinitive harken
past singular harkte
past participle geharkt
infinitive harken
gerund harken n
verbal noun
present tense past tense
1st person singular hark harkte
2nd person sing. (jij) harkt harkte
2nd person sing. (u) harkt harkte
2nd person sing. (gij) harkt harkte
3rd person singular harkt harkte
plural harken harkten
subjunctive sing.1 harke harkte
subjunctive plur.1 harken harkten
imperative sing. hark
imperative plur.1 harkt
participles harkend geharkt
1) Archaic.

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