hearken


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hear·ken

also har·ken  (här′kən)
intr.v. hear·kened, hear·ken·ing, hear·kens
Archaic To listen attentively; give heed.
Phrasal Verb:
hearken back
Usage Problem To hark back.
[Middle English herknen, from Old English hercnian; see kous- in Indo-European roots.]
Usage Note: Traditionally, hearken means "to listen." The word has an archaic and formal air today, in part stemming from its extensive use in the King James Bible (as in Mark 7:14 "Hearken unto me, every one of you") and in traditional storytelling. In contemporary usage, hearken is more often used where one might expect hark, no doubt because of sound similarity: The movie hearkens back to the sci-fi films of the 1950s. The Usage Panel has mixed feelings about this. In our 2009 survey, just 48 percent accepted this example.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

hearken

(ˈhɑːkən) or

harken

vb
archaic to listen to (something)
[Old English heorcnian; see hark]
ˈhearkener n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

heark•en

or hark•en

(ˈhɑr kən)

v.i.
1. to give heed or attention to what is said; listen.
v.t.
2. Archaic. to listen to; hear.
[1150–1200; Middle English hercnen, Old English he(o)rcnian, suffixed form of assumed *heorcian; see hark, -en1]
heark′en•er, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

hearken

- To pay attention or listen; it can also mean "to return to a previous topic."
See also related terms for listen.
Farlex Trivia Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All rights reserved.

hearken


Past participle: hearkened
Gerund: hearkening

Imperative
hearken
hearken
Present
I hearken
you hearken
he/she/it hearkens
we hearken
you hearken
they hearken
Preterite
I hearkened
you hearkened
he/she/it hearkened
we hearkened
you hearkened
they hearkened
Present Continuous
I am hearkening
you are hearkening
he/she/it is hearkening
we are hearkening
you are hearkening
they are hearkening
Present Perfect
I have hearkened
you have hearkened
he/she/it has hearkened
we have hearkened
you have hearkened
they have hearkened
Past Continuous
I was hearkening
you were hearkening
he/she/it was hearkening
we were hearkening
you were hearkening
they were hearkening
Past Perfect
I had hearkened
you had hearkened
he/she/it had hearkened
we had hearkened
you had hearkened
they had hearkened
Future
I will hearken
you will hearken
he/she/it will hearken
we will hearken
you will hearken
they will hearken
Future Perfect
I will have hearkened
you will have hearkened
he/she/it will have hearkened
we will have hearkened
you will have hearkened
they will have hearkened
Future Continuous
I will be hearkening
you will be hearkening
he/she/it will be hearkening
we will be hearkening
you will be hearkening
they will be hearkening
Present Perfect Continuous
I have been hearkening
you have been hearkening
he/she/it has been hearkening
we have been hearkening
you have been hearkening
they have been hearkening
Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been hearkening
you will have been hearkening
he/she/it will have been hearkening
we will have been hearkening
you will have been hearkening
they will have been hearkening
Past Perfect Continuous
I had been hearkening
you had been hearkening
he/she/it had been hearkening
we had been hearkening
you had been hearkening
they had been hearkening
Conditional
I would hearken
you would hearken
he/she/it would hearken
we would hearken
you would hearken
they would hearken
Past Conditional
I would have hearkened
you would have hearkened
he/she/it would have hearkened
we would have hearkened
you would have hearkened
they would have hearkened
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Verb1.hearken - listen; used mostly in the imperative
hark, harken
listen - hear with intention; "Listen to the sound of this cello"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

hearken

also harken
verb
1. To make an effort to hear something:
hark, listen.
Archaic: list.
Idiom: give an ear.
2. Archaic. To perceive by ear, usually attentively:
attend, hark, hear, heed, listen.
Idiom: give one's ear.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
Spanish / Español
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hearken

[ˈhɑːkən] VI (archaic, liter) to hearken to → escuchar
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

hearken

vi (old, liter) → horchen (→ to auf +acc)
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Mentioned in ?
References in classic literature ?
Therefore hearken they to the preachers of death, and themselves preach backworlds.
Hearken rather, my brethren, to the voice of the healthy body; it is a more upright and pure voice.
View in context
Hearken not to the unnatural voice which tells you that the people of America, knit together as they are by so many cords of affection, can no longer live together as members of the same family; can no longer continue the mutual guardians of their mutual happiness; can no longer be fellow citizens of one great, respectable, and flourishing empire.
View in context
However, it all came to this, that I was to come to church as oft as ever I could, and bring my prayer-book with me, an' read up all the sponsers after the clerk, an' stand, an' kneel, an' sit, an' do all as I should, and take the Lord's Supper at every opportunity, an' hearken his sermons, and Maister Bligh's, an' it 'ud be all right: if I went on doing my duty, I should get a blessing at last.
I hearkened and hearkened the ministers, and read an' read at my prayer-book; but it was all like sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal: the sermons I couldn't understand, an' th' prayer-book only served to show me how wicked I was, that I could read such good words an' never be no better for it, and oftens feel it a sore labour an' a heavy task beside, instead of a blessing and a privilege as all good Christians does.
View in context
That soul will hate the ev'ning mist, So often lovely, and will list To the sound of the coming darkness (known To those whose spirits hearken) as one Who, in a dream of night, would fly But cannot from a danger nigh.
View in context
'Hearken, hearken, shoo's cursing on 'em!' muttered Joseph, towards whom I had been steering.
View in context
The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: let such a one be retained in command!
View in context
They hearken back to the yard's rich history as an important center of shipbuilding, where boats were built in an assembly line fashion and would be escorted via the track system to various buildings that housed different stages of the construction process.
Kimball takes lead at Navy Yard
These are whiskey-fueled southern-guitar scorchers and juke-joint jump and jives that both hearken back to rock's earliest days and yet sound fresh and contemporary, all the while making lines like "Let's kiss and make up" sound somehow less than innocent.
Jump, jive and then you wail ..
WE tend to think of masculinity as dark, A man should be a cardboard cut-out of some shadowy saint, He never should say things like, "Hearken to the lark" He ought to stick with words like, 'carpet', 'motorbike' and 'paint.'.
POEM OF THE DAY; Straitjacket

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