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bark

Pronunciation: /bɑːk/

The English word “bark” has 20 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To make a short, loud, explosive noise with the vocal organs (said of animals, especially dogs).
  2. To make a clamor; to make importunate outcries.
  3. To speak sharply.
  4. To strip the bark from; to peel.
  5. To abrade or rub off any outer covering from.
  6. To girdle.
  7. To cover or enclose with bark, or as with bark.

noun

  1. The short, loud, explosive sound uttered by a dog, a fox, and some other animals.
  2. An abrupt loud vocal utterance.
  3. The quick opening of the hi-hat cymbal as it is hit, followed by its timely closing.
  4. (video games) A short, repeatable, and unobtrusive voiceline spoken by an NPC.
  5. The exterior covering of the trunk and branches of a tree or of various other woody plants.
  6. Peruvian bark or Jesuit's bark, the bark of the cinchona from which quinine is produced.
  7. Hard candy made in flat sheets, for instance out of chocolate, peanut butter, toffee or peppermint.
  8. The crust formed on barbecued meat that has had a rub applied to it.
  9. The envelopment or outer covering of anything.
  10. Woodchips.
  11. A small sailing vessel, e.g. a pinnace or a fishing smack; a rowing boat or barge.
  12. A sailing vessel or boat of any kind.

interjection

  1. The sound of a dog barking.

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”),…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.