Bark

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bɑː(ɹ)k/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)k
• Homophones: barque

From Middle English barken, berken, borken, from Old English beorcan ("to bark, bark at"), from the Proto-Germanic *berkaną ("to bark, rumble"), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰereg- ("to make a noise, growl, bark"), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ("to drone, hum, buzz"). Cognate with Icelandic berkja ("to bark, bluster"), Icelandic barki ("throat, windpipe"), dialectal Lithuanian burgė́ti (""), Serbo-Croatian brgljati ("to murmur"). For the noun, compare Old English beorc, bearce ("barking").

Full definition of bark

Verb

1. (intransitive) To make a short, loud, explosive noise with the vocal organs (said of animals, especially dogs).The neighbour's dog is always barking.The seal barked as the zookeeper threw fish into its enclosure.
2. (intransitive) To make a clamor; to make importunate outcries.
• unknown date, Tyndale.They bark, and say the Scripture maketh heretics.
• unknown date, FullerWhere there is the barking of the belly, there no other commands will be heard, much less obeyed. .
3. (transitive) To speak sharply.The sergeant barked an order.
• 2011, January 5, Mark Ashenden, Wolverhampton 1 - 0 Chelsea, While McCarthy prowled the touchline barking orders, his opposite number watched on motionless and expressionless and, with 25 minutes to go, decided to throw on Nicolas Anelka for Kalou.

Usage notes

Historically, bork existed as a past tense form and borken as a past participle, but both forms are now obsolete.

Derived terms

Synonyms

• latrate obsolete

Noun

1. The short, loud, explosive sound uttered by a dog.
2. A similar sound made by some other animals.
3. (figuratively) An abrupt loud vocal utterance.
• circa 1921, The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, vol 11:Fox’s clumsy figure, negligently dressed in blue and buff, seemed unprepossessing; only his shaggy eyebrows added to the expression of his face; his voice would rise to a bark in excitement.

From Middle English bark, from Old English barc ("bark"), from Old Norse bǫrkr ("tree bark"), from Proto-Germanic *barkuz, probably related to *birkijǭ ("birch"), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰergo- (compare Latin frāxinus ("ash"), Lithuanian béržas ("birch")), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰereg- ("to gleam; white") (compare English bright); akin to Danish bark, Icelandic börkr, Low German borke and Albanian berk ("bast").

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) The exterior covering of the trunk and branches of a tree.
• 2012, John Branch, Snow Fall : The Avalanche at Tunnel CreekMoving about 70 miles per hour, it crashed through the sturdy old-growth trees, snapping their limbs and shredding bark from their trunks.
2. (medicine) Peruvian bark or Jesuit's bark, the bark of the cinchona from which quinine is produced.
3. The crust formed on barbecued meat that has had a rub applied to it.
• 2009, Julie Reinhardt, She-Smoke: A Backyard Barbecue Book, page 151:This softens the meat further, but at some loss of crunch to the bark.

Usage notes

Usually uncountable; bark may be countable when referring to the barks of different types of tree.

Synonyms

• (exterior covering of a tree) rind

Related terms

Verb

1. To strip the bark from; to peel.
2. To abrade or rub off any outer covering from.to bark one’s heel
3. To girdle.
4. To cover or inclose with bark, or as with bark.bark the roof of a hut

From Middle English barke ("boat"), from Middle French barque, from Late Latin barca, from Vulgar Latin barica, from Ancient Greek βάρις (báris, "Egyptian boat"), from Coptic bari ("small boat"), from Egyptian bēre.

Alternative forms

• barque

Noun

1. (obsolete) A small sailing vessel, e.g. a pinnace or a fishing smack; a rowing boat or barge.
2. (poetic) a sailing vessel or boat of any kind.
• circa 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 116:It is the star to every wandering bark
• circa 1880, among the Poems of Emily Dickinson:Whether my bark went down at sea, Whether she met with gales, ...
3. (nautical) A three-masted vessel, having her foremast and mainmast square-rigged, and her mizzenmast schooner-rigged.

Anagrams

• krab