Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb Archaic To listen attentively; give heed.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • See harken, harkener.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To listen; to lend the ear; to attend to what is uttered; to give heed; to hear, in order to obey or comply.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To inquire; to seek information.
  • transitive verb Archaic To hear by listening.
  • transitive verb Archaic To give heed to; to hear attentively.
  • transitive verb [Obs.] to search out.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive To listen; to lend the ear; to attend or give heed to what is uttered; to hear with attention, obedience, or compliance.
  • verb transitive, poetic To hear by listening.
  • verb transitive To hear with attention; to regard.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb listen; used mostly in the imperative

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English herknen, from Old English hercnian; see kous- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • Hearken to the reed forlorn

    Crying ever since was torn

    From its rushy bed; a strain

    Of impassioned love and pain.

    - Jalaluddin Rumi.

    Sorry, translator unknown.

    July 10, 2008