Library / English Dictionary

BARK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sailing ship with 3 (or more) masts

Synonyms:

bark; barque

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("bark" is a kind of...):

sailing ship; sailing vessel (a vessel that is powered by the wind; often having several masts)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The sound made by a dog

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("bark" is a kind of...):

cry (the characteristic utterance of an animal)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bark"):

bow-wow (the bark of a dog)

Derivation:

bark (make barking sounds)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A noise resembling the bark of a dog

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("bark" is a kind of...):

noise (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound))

Derivation:

bark (speak in an unfriendly tone)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Tough protective covering of the woody stems and roots of trees and other woody plants

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("bark" is a kind of...):

cover; covering; natural covering (a natural object that covers or envelops)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bark"):

cinnamon; cinnamon bark (aromatic bark used as a spice)

cassia bark; Chinese cinnamon (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)

cinchona; cinchona bark; Jesuit's bark; Peruvian 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)

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

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.)

Holonyms ("bark" is a part of...):

bole; tree trunk; trunk (the main stem of a tree; usually covered with bark; the bole is usually the part that is commercially useful for lumber)

branch (a division of a stem, or secondary stem arising from the main stem of a plant)

root ((botany) the usually underground organ that lacks buds or leaves or nodes; absorbs water and mineral salts; usually it anchors the plant to the ground)

Derivation:

bark (remove the bark of a tree)

bark (cover with bark)

barky (resembling the rough bark of a tree)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Tan (a skin) with bark tannins

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "bark" is one way to...):

tan (treat skins and hides with tannic acid so as to convert them into leather)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Speak in an unfriendly tone

Example:

She barked into the dictaphone

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "bark" is one way to...):

mouth; speak; talk; utter; verbalise; verbalize (express in speech)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They bark that there was a traffic accident

Derivation:

bark (a noise resembling the bark of a dog)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make barking sounds

Example:

The dogs barked at the stranger

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "bark" is one way to...):

emit; let loose; let out; utter (express audibly; utter sounds (not necessarily words))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bark"):

bay; quest (bark with prolonged noises, of dogs)

yap; yelp; yip (bark in a high-pitched tone)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

bark (the sound made by a dog)

barker (informal terms for dogs)

barker (someone who stands in front of a show (as at a carnival) and gives a loud colorful sales talk to potential customers)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Remove the bark of a tree

Synonyms:

bark; skin

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "bark" is one way to...):

strip (remove the surface from)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They bark the trees

Derivation:

bark (tough protective covering of the woody stems and roots of trees and other woody plants)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Cover with bark

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "bark" is one way to...):

cover (provide with a covering or cause to be covered)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

bark (tough protective covering of the woody stems and roots of trees and other woody plants)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Upon administration of Phellodendron amurense bark extract, the various phytochemicals in this formulation modulate multiple signal transduction pathways.

(Phellodendron amurense Bark Extract, NCI Thesaurus)

In trees, the region containing food-conducting tissue in the bark.

(Phloem, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

It has a distinctive low-pitched, loud-ringing bark.

(Old English Sheepdog, NCI Thesaurus)

The inner bark of this plant has been used in some cultures to treat certain medical problems.

(Gray elm, NCI Dictionary)

Sometimes, indeed, he left marks in writing on the barks of the trees or cut in stone that guided me and instigated my fury.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

He grunted, or rather, I might say, he barked.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

There was deep-mouthed shouting of men, frightened shrieks of women, howling and barking of curs, and over all a sullen, thunderous rumble, indescribably menacing and terrible.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Could it have been a man, Jim?” I asked, plucking up my courage now that I could hear the dogs barking on the farms.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An herbal tea mixture that contains burdock root, Indian rhubarb root, sheep sorrel, and slippery elm bark.

(Essiac, NCI Dictionary)

A condition characterized by resonant barking cough, hoarseness and persistant stridor and caused by allergy, foreign body, infection, or neoplasm.

(Croup, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)