hark back

Meanings

1. Of hounds: to retrace a course in order to pick up the lost scent of prey.
2. To return to where one has previously been; to retrace one's steps.
3. To allude, return, or revert (to a subject previously mentioned, etc.); also, to evoke, or long or pine for (a past era or event).
4. To call back (hounds); to recall.

1. Alternative form of hark-back.
2. An act of hounds retracing a course in order to pick up the lost scent of prey.
3. An act of alluding, returning, or reverting (to a subject previously mentioned, etc.); also, an act of evoking, or longing or pining for (a past era or event).

Etymology

From hark (“to listen attentively”) + back (“to or in a previous condition or place”, adverb), originally a hunting command to hounds meaning “Listen! Go back!”.