What does "bark" mean?

1. (dog sound) the short, loud sound that a dog or fox makes. 2. (tree covering) the hard outer layer that covers the trunk and branches of a tree. 3. (hard candy) a type of hard chocolate or candy made in thin, flat sheets. 4. (sailing ship) a type of ship with three or more masts. 5. (to make a dog sound) to make the loud, short sound of a dog. 6. (to speak sharply) to shout or say something in a loud, angry, or quick way. 7. (to scrape skin) to accidentally rub the skin off your knee or elbow.

bark — meaning, definition & examples

Word

01dog sound

A2 · Elementary Countable noun

n. the short, loud sound that a dog or fox makes.

n. the characteristic short, explosive vocalisation of a dog or related canine.

“The neighbor's dog gave a loud bark when the mail carrier arrived.”

“A sudden, sharp bark from the guard dog echoed through the empty warehouse, alerting the security team to an intruder.”

Synonyms

woof yelp bay

02tree covering

B1 · Intermediate Uncountable noun Science

n. the hard outer layer that covers the trunk and branches of a tree.

n. the tough protective outer sheath of the trunks, branches, and roots of woody plants.

“The bark of the birch tree is white and feels like paper.”

“The rough, deeply furrowed bark of the ancient oak served as a habitat for various species of moss and insects.”

Synonyms

casing skinrind

03hard candy

B2 · Upper Intermediate Uncountable noun Cooking American English

n. a type of hard chocolate or candy made in thin, flat sheets.

n. a confection consisting of thin sheets of chocolate or other hardened sugar bases, often containing nuts or peppermint.

“We made peppermint bark by melting white chocolate and crushing candy canes.”

“For the holiday gift baskets, she prepared a dark chocolate almond bark finished with a sprinkle of sea salt.”

Synonyms

brittle toffee

04sailing ship

C2 · Proficiency Countable noun Literary · Archaic

n. a type of ship with three or more masts.

n. a sailing vessel with three or more masts, specifically one with the aftmast fore-and-aft rigged and others square-rigged.

“The wooden bark sailed across the ocean many years ago.”

“The poet described the fragile bark tossed upon the stormy seas as a metaphor for the human soul.”

Synonyms

vessel shipbarque

05to make a dog sound

A2 · Elementary

v. to make the loud, short sound of a dog.

v. to utter a short, explosive cry; used of dogs or in imitation of them.

“The dogs barked at the cat until it climbed up the tree.”

“The hounds began to bark frantically as they picked up the scent of the fox near the edge of the woods.”

Synonyms

bay howl

06to speak sharply

B2 · Upper Intermediate

v. to shout or say something in a loud, angry, or quick way.

v. to utter a command or remark in a loud, aggressive, or curt tone.

“The sergeant barked orders at the new soldiers on the first day.”

“The manager barked a series of instructions at the staff before rushing out to meet the client.”

Synonyms

snap shoutbellow

Antonyms

whisper mumble

07to scrape skin

C1 · Advanced Medicine Informal

v. to accidentally rub the skin off your knee or elbow.

v. to abrade or scrape the skin from a part of the body through impact or friction.

“He barked his shin against the coffee table in the dark.”

“The athlete barked his knuckles against the rough concrete wall during the final sprint of the obstacle course.”

Synonyms

scrape graze skin

From Middle English barken, berken, borken, from Old English beorcan (“to bark”), from the Proto-West Germanic berkan (“to bark”), from Proto-Indo-European bʰerg- (“to make a noise, growl, bark”), from *bʰer- (“to drone, hum, buzz”). Cognate with Icelandic berkja (“to bark, bluster”), Icelandic barki (“throat, windpipe”), dialectal Lithuanian burgė́ti (“to growl, grumble, grouch, quarrel”), Serbo-Croatian brbljati (“to murmur”). For the noun, compare Old English beorc, bearce (“barking”)..

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 bʰerHǵós (compare Latin frāxinus (“ash”), Lithuanian béržas (“birch”)), from Proto-Indo-European bʰerHǵ- (“to gleam; white”) (compare English bright); akin to Danish bark, Icelandic börkur, Low German borke and Albanian berk (“bast”).

From Middle English barke (“boat”), from Middle French barque, from Late Latin barca, a regular syncope of Vulgar Latin barica, from Classical Latin bāris, from Ancient Greek βᾶρις (bâris, “Egyptian boat”), from Coptic ⲃⲁⲁⲣⲉ (baare, “small boat”), from Demotic Egyptian br, from Egyptian bꜣjrb-bA-A-y:rZ1-P1 (“transport ship”). Doublet of barge, barque and baris.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

VERB

Barking(B1)

NOUN

bark(A2)

barker(C2)