bark
UK /bɑːk/ · US /bɑɹk/ verb, noun, interjection, proper noun
Also a form of barque
Forms barks barking barked barke barque
- verb (intransitive) To make a short, loud, explosive noise with the vocal organs (said of animals, especially dogs). “The neighbour's dog is always barking.”
- verb (intransitive) To make a clamor; to make importunate outcries.
- verb (transitive) To speak sharply. “The sergeant barked an order.”
- noun The short, loud, explosive sound uttered by a dog, a fox, and some other animals.
- noun (figuratively) An abrupt loud vocal utterance.
- noun (music) The quick opening of the hi-hat cymbal as it is hit, followed by its timely closing.
- noun (countable) (video games) A short, repeatable, and unobtrusive voiceline spoken by an NPC.
- interjection The sound of a dog barking.
- noun (countable, uncountable) The exterior covering of the trunk and branches of a tree or of various other woody plants.
- noun (medicine) Peruvian bark or Jesuit's bark, the bark of the cinchona from which quinine is produced.
- noun Hard candy made in flat sheets, for instance out of chocolate, peanut butter, toffee or peppermint.
- noun The crust formed on barbecued meat that has had a rub applied to it.
- noun The envelopment or outer covering of anything.
- noun (dialectical, Western US) Woodchips.
- verb To strip the bark from; to peel.
- verb To abrade or rub off any outer covering from. “I barked my shins climbing the fence.”
- verb To girdle.
- verb To cover or enclose with bark, or as with bark. “to bark the roof of a hut”
- noun (obsolete) A small sailing vessel, e.g. a pinnace or a fishing smack; a rowing boat or barge.
- noun (poetic) A sailing vessel or boat of any kind.
Synonyms
Etymology
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:r*Z1-P1 (“transport ship”). Doublet of barge, barque and baris.
* As an English surname, possibly a variant of Bargh, from places such as Barugh in Yorkshire, derived from Old English beorh (“hill”), or directly from the Old English noun.
* As a north/Low German and Dutch surname, from the noun berke (“birch”); also names for someone who lived near a mountain, see Barg, Berk.
* Also as a Dutch surname, possibly a pet from of the name Barnhard.
* As a Polish surname, from the noun bark (“shoulder”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To strip the bark from; to peel.
- verb To abrade or rub off any outer covering from; as to bark one's heel.
- verb To make a short, loud, explosive noise with the vocal organs; --said of some animals, but especially of dogs.
- verb To make a clamor; to make importunate outcries.
Etymology [OE. berken, AS. beorcan; akin to Icel. berkja, and prob. to E. break.]
Etymology [F. barque, fr. Sp. or It. barca, fr. LL. barca for barica. See Barge.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bark”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details