Lansing State Journal: Michigan's fall hunting seasons are getting underway. When hunters can head outdoors Michigan's fall hunting seasons are set to get underway, with several opening in September, including waterfowl, squirrel, rabbit and others. "Get ready for a great fall in the fields and forests or ...

Context Explanation

Michigan's fall hunting seasons are getting underway. When hunters can head outdoors From its use in hunting, the verb acquired its current figurative meanings concerned with returning to the past. The variants hearken and harken (also very old words meaning "to listen") are also used, with and without back, as synonyms of hark back. Take the particularly apt example (stay tuned) of mushroom hunting.

Insight Material

The likely ancestor of foray is an Anglo-French word referring to the violent sort who do invasion forays, but that word could also refer to a forager—that is, one who wanders in search of food. Haggard has its origins in falconry, the ancient sport of hunting with a trained bird of prey. The birds used in falconry were not bred in captivity until very recently; traditionally, falconers trained wild birds that were either taken from the nest when quite young or trapped as adults. “Preserving the public peace” so often meant hunting down a supposed criminal that posse eventually came to refer to any group organized to make a search or embark on a mission, and today one may read about posses organized for search and rescue efforts. The earliest uses of circumvent referred to a tactic of hunting or warfare in which the quarry or enemy was encircled and captured.

Final Conclusion

This meaning doesn’t exactly square with modern uses of the word.