a short, explosive sound, as of firearms: the bark of a revolver.
a brusque order, reply, etc.: The foreman's bark sent the idlers back to their machines.
a cough.
verb (used without object)
(of a dog or other animal) to utter an abrupt, explosive cry or a series of such cries.
to make a similar sound: The big guns barked.
to speak or cry out sharply or gruffly: a man who barks at his children.
Informal. to advertise a theater performance, carnival sideshow, or the like, by standing at the entrance and calling out to passersby.
to cough.
verb (used with object)
to utter in a harsh, shouting tone: barking orders at her subordinates.
Idioms
bark at the moon, to protest in vain: Telling her that she's misinformed is just barking at the moon.
bark up the wrong tree, to assail or pursue the wrong person or object; misdirect one's efforts: If he expects me to get him a job, he's barking up the wrong tree.
Origin of bark
1
before 900;Middle Englishberken,Old Englishbeorcan; akin to Old Englishborcian to bark, Old Norseberkja to bluster, Lithuanianburgė́ti to growl, quarrel, Serbo-Croatianbr̀gljati to murmur
Word Origin and History for bark up the wrong tree
bark
n.3
dog sound, Old English beorc, from bark (v.). Paired and compared with bite (n.) since at least 1660s; the proverb is older: "Timid dogs bark worse than they bite" was in Latin (Canis timidus vehementius latrat quam mordet, Quintius Curtius).
bark
n.1
"tree skin," c.1300, from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse borkr "bark," from Proto-Germanic *barkuz, which probably is related to birch and Low German borke. The native word was rind.
bark
n.2
"any small ship," early 15c., from Middle French barque (15c.), from Late Latin barca (c.400 C.E.), probably cognate with Vulgar Latin *barica (see barge). More precise sense of "three-masted ship" (17c.) often is spelled barque to distinguish it.
bark
v.
in reference to a dog sound, Old English beorcan "to bark," from Proto-Germanic *berkanan (cf. Old Norse berkja "to bark"), of echoic origin. Related: Barked; barking. To bark up the wrong tree is U.S. colloquial, first attested 1832, from notion of hounds following the wrong scent.
The protective outer covering of the trunk, branches, and roots of trees and other woody plants. Bark includes all tissues outside the vascular cambium. In older trees, bark is usually divided into inner bark, consisting of living phloem, and outer bark, consisting of the periderm (the phelloderm, cork cambium, and cork) and all the tissues outside it. The outer bark is mainly dead tissue that protects the tree from heat, cold, insects, and other dangers. The appearance of bark varies according to the manner in which the periderm forms, as in broken layers or smoother rings. Bark also has lenticels, porous corky areas that allow for the exchange of water vapor and gases with the interior living tissues.
Waste one's efforts by pursuing the wrong thing or path, as in If you think I can come up with more money, you're barking up the wrong tree. This term comes from the nocturnal pursuit of raccoon-hunting with the aid of dogs. Occasionally a raccoon fools the dogs, which crowd around a tree, barking loudly, not realizing their quarry has taken a different route. [Early 1800s]
