bark1
/bɑːk
/noun
1The sharp explosive cry of a dog, fox, or seal.As I tucked into this steaming Bunter-sized platter out on the darkening waters, I swear I heard the seals give a loud bark of disapproval....
- In general, vocalizations are varied and include: trumpeting, whistles, twitters, honks, barks, grunts, quacks, croaks and growls.
- As soon as the click of key-in-lock was heard Melanie's sharp barks followed.
Synonyms
woof, yap, yelp, bay;
growl, snarl, howl
1.1A sound resembling a bark, typically one made by someone laughing or coughing: a short bark of laughter...
- The Prince laughed, if the humorless barks of sound could really be called laughter.
- A small bark of laughter sounded from her lips, and she turned to flash a small smile.
- The guys all elicited little coughs to hide their barks of laughter especially after they saw the look on Chantal's face.
verb
1 [no object] (Of a dog, fox, or seal) give a bark: a dog barked at her...
- The dog barked at the cat and made to steal the cat's food.
- As I walked past, the dogs barked at me, and one lunged at me and bit me on the leg.
- The dog barked at the girl, baring it's canines threateningly at her.
Synonyms
woof, yap, yelp, bay;
growl, snarl, howl, whine
1.1(Of a person) make a sound resembling a bark: she barked with laughter...
- So we're staying at the Waldorf which is crammed with business people barking into mobile phones.
- The two hours sat listening to an orchestra of mobile phones, into which people barked: ‘I'm stuck on the train’ were enlightening.
- There have been a few people barking about the trees that were chopped down in Jordan's Castle.
2 [with object] Utter (a command or question) abruptly or aggressively: he began barking out his orders [with direct speech]: ‘Nobody is allowed up here,’ he barked...
- His boss is a brutish oaf who barks orders and commands with little care for his employee's dignity.
- Then, Leslie barked some command, and we all started doing ‘side steps’.
- Unseen in the Vancouver dugout, manager Jack McKeon barked commands into a transmitter.
Synonyms
say/speak brusquely, say/speak abruptly, say/speak angrily, snap, snarl, growl;
shout, bawl, cry, yell, roar, bellow, thunder
North American informal holler
2.1 [no object] US Call out in order to sell or advertise something: doormen bark at passers-by, promising hot girls and cold beer...
- As the band lets the dueling guitars heat up, Johnson barks like a flea market pitchman, bargaining with wary shoppers for humanism and attention.
- A"Step right up to the Shootin' Corral fellas, first shot's for free!" he had barked in a greasy rasp at cringing fair-goers who tried to creep by his booth unnoticed,
- From a colourful assortment of fruits, vegetables, fish and meats to vendors barking about bargains for anybody who will listen.
Phrases
someone's bark is worse than their bite
be barking up the wrong tree
Origin
Old English beorc (noun), beorcan (verb), of Germanic origin; possibly related to break1.
Dogs have always barked, so it is not surprising that bark is a prehistoric word. If someone's bark is worse than their bite they are not as ferocious as they appear. To bark at the moon meaning ‘to make a fuss with no effect’, is first recorded in the 17th century. To bark up the wrong tree is from 19th-century America. People have been barking or barking mad since the 1930s. The bark of a tree is possibly related to the name of the birch tree (Old English). Bark or barque (Middle English) is also an old-fashioned word for a boat from Latin barca ‘ship's boat’, from which we get embark (mid 16th century).
Rhymes
bark2
/bɑːk/noun [mass noun]
1The tough protective outer sheath of the trunk, branches, and twigs of a tree or woody shrub: beavers feed on leaves and the living bark of trees...
- Being leaf eaters, they eat a great deal of leaves, fruits, twigs, and tree bark; they have chambered stomachs.
- On the outer bark of the tree are brown spots, said to resemble the rust spots of nails.
- I started to look on the ground around the tree for fallen bark and branches, and what I saw was a veritable goldmine of wood that would be just the thing for the huts.
Synonyms
rind, skin, peel, sheath, covering, outer layer, coating, casing, crust;
cork
technical cortex, integument, bast
1.1Bark used for tanning leather, making dyestuffs, or as a mulch in gardening: top-dress lime-hating shrubs with bark...
- After that, because the soil level usually sinks a little during the growing season, I top it off in late winter with an inch of fine bark mulch.
- Dressing the final layer of soil with mulch or bark will help retain water.
- I took the tree guards off to let the hens have a root around, then cleared the grass from around the tree, top dressed with bonemeal, added a good mulch of bark and replaced the guards.
verb [with object]
1chiefly British Strip the bark from (a tree or piece of wood): they had to be barked by hand, you couldn’t peel them the way you can newly cut wood...
- When the celebrations reached their height, initiates climbed nine-foot trees that were barked and notched to form ladders.
- The others barked the logs, the sawing was done, and each one of the nine men received two wagon loads of good lumber for his share.
- We felled trees for posts and beams using an old Royal Chinook two-person falling saw and then barked the logs with large drawknives.
1.1Scrape the skin off (one’s shin) by accidentally hitting it against something hard: it’s pitch black—I barked my shin and took a tumble in a nettle bed...
- Desperate for a wee, he did two laps of the living room barking his shins and becoming increasingly panicky before finally locating the light switch and making good his escape.
- But, when you tumble over and bark your shins, you are less than enamoured by gravity.
- I barked my knees and shins several times on the way, but before long I found myself standing at the viewing area.
Synonyms
scrape, graze, scratch, abrade, scuff, rasp, skin, rub something raw;
cut, lacerate, chafe, strip, flay, wound
technical excoriate
2 technical Tan or dye (leather or other materials) using the tannins found in bark.He would use varnish and cottonseed oil and some ink black to bark the grain in the wood.
Origin
Middle English: from Old Norse bǫrkr; perhaps related to birch.
bark3
/bɑːk/noun archaic or literary
A ship or boat.Our NOVA team, which coalesced in Giza last night, was immersed in that story today as we examined and filmed the famous Solar Barque of Khufu....
- If this journey included a trip on the Nile, the golden barque was put on a papyriform transport boat and taken to its destination.
- On an indictment for manslaughter it appeared that the prisoner was a pilot, and was on board a Portuguese barque sailing down the Thames.
Origin
Late Middle English: variant of barque.