BARK

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does bark mean? 

• BARK (noun)
  The noun BARK has 4 senses:

1. tough protective covering of the woody stems and roots of trees and other woody plants

2. a noise resembling the bark of a dog

3. a sailing ship with 3 (or more) masts

4. the sound made by a dog

  Familiarity information: BARK used as a noun is uncommon.

• BARK (verb)
  The verb BARK has 5 senses:

1. speak in an unfriendly tone

2. cover with bark

3. remove the bark of a tree

4. make barking sounds

5. tan (a skin) with bark tannins

  Familiarity information: BARK used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BARK (noun)

Sense 1

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"):

cinchona; cinchona bark; Jesuit's bark; Peruvian bark (medicinal bark of cinchona trees; source of quinine and quinidine)

cork (outer bark of the cork oak; used for stoppers for bottles etc.)

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

angostura; angostura bark (the bitter bark of a South American tree; used in medicines and liqueurs and bitters)

tapa; tapa bark; tappa; tappa bark (the thin fibrous bark of the paper mulberry and Pipturus albidus)

winter's bark (aromatic bark having tonic and stimulant properties)

cascara; cascara sagrada; chittam bark; chittem bark (dried bark of the cascara buckthorn used as a laxative)

cascarilla bark; eleuthera bark; sweetwood bark (aromatic bark of cascarilla; used as a tonic and for making incense)

canella; canella bark; white cinnamon (highly aromatic inner bark of the Canella winterana used as a condiment and a tonic)

mezereum (the dried bark of the shrub mezereon)

tanbark (bark rich in tannin; bruised and cut in pieces to use for tanning; spent tanbark used as a ground covering)

magnolia (dried bark of various magnolias; used in folk medicine)

cinnamon bark (aromatic bark of Saigon cinnamon used medicinally as a carminative)

cassia bark; Chinese cinnamon (aromatic bark of the cassia-bark tree; less desirable as a spice than Ceylon cinnamon bark)

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

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

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)

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)

Derivation:

bark (remove the bark of a tree)

bark (cover with bark)

barky (resembling the rough bark of a tree)

Sense 2

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 3

Meaning:

A sailing ship with 3 (or more) masts

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

bark; barque

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

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

Sense 4

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)

• BARK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they bark    ... he / she / it barks   
Past simple: barked   
Past participle: barked   
-ing form: barking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Speak in an unfriendly tone

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

She barked into the dictaphone

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 2

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)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Remove the bark of a tree

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

bark; skin

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 4

Meaning:

Make barking sounds

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

The dogs barked at the stranger

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 5

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

 Context examples 

He ran about the room, now here, now there, barking loudly; but Dorothy sat quite still on the floor and waited to see what would happen.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

He offered himself and a friend to accompany me, and that I should be provided with a small convenient bark for the voyage.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

He saw noble and beautiful visions, but he could only whine and bark at Ruth.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Father, I have learnt what the dogs say when they bark.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The man’s face peeled off under the sponge like the bark from a tree.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Wolf Larsen barked a short laugh in my ear and strode away to the weather side of the poop.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He was laughing with his red mouth; the sharp white teeth glinted in the moonlight when he turned to look back over the belt of trees, to where the dogs were barking.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

In all the time they had him he was never known to bark.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The Basenji does not bark, but does have many other vocalizations.

(Basenji, NCI Thesaurus)

A pentacyclic lupane-type triterpene derivative of betulin (isolated from the bark of Betula alba, the common white birch) with antiinflammatory, anti-HIV and antineoplastic activities.

(Betulinic Acid, NCI Thesaurus)