bark
verb/bɑːk/
/bɑːrk/
Verb Forms
Idioms | present simple I / you / we / they bark | /bɑːk/ /bɑːrk/ |
| he / she / it barks | /bɑːks/ /bɑːrks/ |
| past simple barked | /bɑːkt/ /bɑːrkt/ |
| past participle barked | /bɑːkt/ /bɑːrkt/ |
| -ing form barking | /ˈbɑːkɪŋ/ /ˈbɑːrkɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive] bark (at somebody/something) when a dog barks, it makes a short loud sound
- The dog suddenly started barking at us.
- The dog was barking furiously at a cat.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- angrily
- excitedly
- frantically
- …
- at
Definitions on the go
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- [transitive] to give orders, ask questions, etc. in a loud, unfriendly way
- bark out something She barked out an order.
- bark something (at somebody) He barked questions at her.
- + speech ‘Who are you?’ he barked.
- [transitive] bark something (British English) to rub the skin off your knee, etc. by falling or by knocking against something synonym graze
- I barked my shins when I fell on the steps.
Word Originverb senses 1 to 2 Old English beorc (noun), beorcan (verb), of Germanic origin; possibly related to break. verb sense 3 Middle English: from Old Norse bǫrkr; perhaps related to birch.
Idioms
See bark in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarybe barking up the wrong tree
- (informal) to have the wrong idea about how to get or achieve something
- You're barking up the wrong tree if you're expecting us to lend you any money.
why keep a dog and bark yourself?
- (informal, saying) if somebody can do a task for you, there is no point in doing it yourself
Check pronunciation:
bark