bark

/bɑrk/

/bɑk/

Other forms: barking; barked; barks

A bark is the loud, sharp sound a dog makes. Seals also bark, and people sometimes bark with laughter or bark out commands.

Bark is both a noun and a verb: if your dog is known for his noisy bark, it means that he barks all the time. There is also the type of bark that covers the trunk of a tree, and yet another bark, an old-fashioned word for a masted ship. When you "bark up the wrong tree," you have completely misunderstood a situation, the way a squirrel-chasing dog does when she literally barks in the wrong direction.

Definitions of bark

1. noun

   the sound made by a dog
   types:

   bow-wow

   the bark of a dog

   type of:

   cry

   the characteristic utterance of an animal
2. noun

   a noise resembling the bark of a dog
   type of:

   noise

   sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound)
3. verb

   make barking sounds
   “The dogs barked at the stranger”

   types:

   bay, quest

   bark with prolonged noises, of dogs

   yap, yelp, yip

   bark in a high-pitched tone

   type of:

   emit, let loose, let out, utter

   express audibly; utter sounds (not necessarily words)
4. verb

   speak in an unfriendly tone
   “She barked into the dictaphone”

   type of:

   mouth, speak, talk, utter, verbalise, verbalize

   express in speech
5. noun

   tough protective covering of the woody stems and roots of trees and other woody plants
   types:

   cinnamon, cinnamon bark

   aromatic bark used as a spice

   Chinese cinnamon, cassia bark

   aromatic bark of the cassia-bark tree; less desirable as a spice than Ceylon cinnamon bark

   cinnamon bark

   aromatic bark of Saigon cinnamon used medicinally as a carminative

   magnolia

   dried bark of various magnolias; used in folk medicine

   tanbark

   bark rich in tannin; bruised and cut in pieces to use for tanning; spent tanbark used as a ground covering

   mezereum

   the dried bark of the shrub mezereon

   canella, canella bark, white cinnamon

   highly aromatic inner bark of the Canella winterana used as a condiment and a tonic

   Jesuit's bark, Peruvian bark, cinchona, cinchona bark

   medicinal bark of cinchona trees; source of quinine and quinidine

   cascarilla bark, eleuthera bark, sweetwood bark

   aromatic bark of cascarilla; used as a tonic and for making incense

   cascara, cascara sagrada, chittam bark, chittem bark

   dried bark of the cascara buckthorn used as a laxative

   winter's bark

   aromatic bark having tonic and stimulant properties

   tapa, tapa bark, tappa, tappa bark

   the thin fibrous bark of the paper mulberry and Pipturus albidus

   angostura, angostura bark

   the bitter bark of a South American tree; used in medicines and liqueurs and bitters

   cork

   outer bark of the cork oak; used for stoppers for bottles etc.

   cork, phellem

   (botany) outer tissue of bark; a protective layer of dead cells

   type of:

   cover, covering, natural covering

   a natural object that covers or envelops
6. verb

   remove the bark of a tree
   synonyms: skin

   type of:

   strip

   remove the surface from
7. verb

   tan (a skin) with bark tannins
   type of:

   tan

   treat skins and hides with tannic acid so as to convert them into leather
8. verb

   cover with bark
   type of:

   cover

   provide with a covering or cause to be covered
9. noun

   a sailing ship with 3 (or more) masts
   synonyms: barque

   type of:

   sailing ship, sailing vessel

   a vessel that is powered by the wind; often having several masts