/ bɑːk; NAmE bɑːrk/ noun , verb
■ noun [ U , C ]
1.
the outer covering of a tree
—picture at tree
2.
the short loud sound made by dogs and some other animals
3.
a short loud sound made by a gun or a voice :
a bark of laughter
•
IDIOMS
- sb's bark is worse than their bite
■ verb
1.
[ v ] bark (at sb/sth) when a dog barks , it makes a short loud sound :
The dog suddenly started barking at us.
2.
bark (out) sth to give orders, ask questions, etc. in a loud, unfriendly way :
[ vn ]
She barked out an order.
He barked questions at her.
[also v speech ]
3.
( especially BrE ) to rub the skin off your knee, etc. by falling or by knocking against sth
SYN graze
•
IDIOMS
- be barking up the wrong tree
•
IDIOMS
see dog noun
••
WORD ORIGIN
noun senses 2 to 3 and verb senses 1 to 2 Old English beorc (noun), beorcan (verb), of Germanic origin; possibly related to break .
noun sense 1 and verb sense 3 Middle English : from Old Norse bo̧rkr ; perhaps related to birch .