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to bark

to bark

5 8.2
To cover the ground or plants with pieces of tree bark to protect them
  • verb
  • /bɑrk/
translation icon : quitar la corteza
  • To enhance the garden's aesthetic, we plan to bark the flower beds with tree bark mulch.
  • bark a tree
  • bark a trunk

Examples

  • They used to bark the trunk of the tree to protect it from pests.

  • When we renovated the garden, we decided to bark the trees for a healthier look.

  • After all, why keep a doctor and bark yourself?

    Fiction book (1995)
  • That's how I wound up barking up your tree this morning.

  • Look, you seem like a really nice guy... but I gotta warn you right now if you're looking to find yourself a one-night soulmate, you're definitely barking up the wrong tree.

  • In worrying about "communication," CRU, Mann, and the IPCC are barking up the wrong tree (no pun intended).

    Blog text (17)

Synonyms

to skin
vsto bark
2 9.0

To remove the bark from a tree

also means using or covering with that outer layer not only peeling
to debark
vsto bark
  • Specialized
7.5

To take the bark off a tree or log

also covers using or applying that outer layer rather than only removal

Idioms

15 6.5

To be wrong about who or what caused something

1 6.1

Talks in a threatening way but does not act

to bark yourself
  • Informal
1 9.9

To do something yourself instead of asking someone else to do it

9.9

To do a task yourself and take responsibility for what happens

To do work yourself when you hired someone else to do it

Compounds

1 6.5

A small beetle that bores tunnels in tree bark and often kills the tree

1 7.2

A light boat made from birch tree bark and used by Native people in North America

Dried tree bark with a warm, sweet smell used as a cooking spice

A very high, sharp sound a dog makes

bitter-bark
  • Specialized
9.9

A small shrub with large pink sepals that people use as medicine for fever

9.9

A tropical tree with smelly, poisonous bark and strong wood whose bark and seeds people use as medicine

9.9

A tropical American tree with rough, smelly poisonous outer layer and very hard wood used in traditional medicine

canella bark
  • Specialized
9.9

A spicy, fragrant inner bark from a small tropical tree used as a spice and medicine

Cartagena bark
  • Archaic
9.9

Bark from a Colombian tree people used long ago to make medicine for malaria

A fragrant bark from a small shrub for making incense and health drinks

Bark from a tree used as a spice that smells like cinnamon and tastes stronger

A Chinese tree with strong-smelling bark used to make a type of cinnamon

chestnut-bark disease
  • Specialized
7.4

A disease that kills American chestnut trees by making deep wounds in their bark

chittam bark
  • Archaic
9.9

Dried bark from a tree used as a natural laxative

chittem bark
  • Archaic
9.9

Dried bark used as a medicine to help people have a bowel movement

cinchona bark
  • Specialized
8.5

Dried bark from a tree used to make medicine for malaria

dita bark
  • Philippine
9.9

An evergreen tree from eastern Asia and the Philippines with large leathery leaves and small green white flower clusters

eleuthera bark
  • Specialized
9.9

A fragrant bark from a small shrub used to make incense and health drinks

angostura bark
  • Specialized
9.9

Bitter bark from a South American tree that flavors drinks and medicines

Small insect that lives on tree bark and eats fungi and dead plant parts

A small insect that lives on tree bark and eats mold or tiny plant bits

9.9

A shrub or small tree that grows in southern US swamps whose bark is used to treat fever

Jesuit's bark
  • Archaic
9.9

Bark from a tree used to make medicine for malaria

Peruvian bark
  • Archaic
9.9

Dried bark from a South American tree that contains quinine used to treat malaria

Fragrant bark from a tropical tree used for incense and traditional medicine

tapa bark
  • Specialized
9.9

Thin stringy bark from the paper mulberry tree used to make tapa cloth

tappa bark
  • Australian
9.9

Thin bark from the paper mulberry tree that people beat to make cloth in Polynesia

smooth bark kauri
  • Australian
9.9

A large Australian tree with a smooth pale trunk and light soft wood used for building

spruce bark beetle
  • Specialized
8.0

A small insect that makes holes in the bark of spruce trees and often kills them

winter's bark
  • Specialized
9.9

A South American evergreen tree with aromatic bark used as a spice and medicine

winter's bark family
  • Specialized
9.9

A small group of mainly tropical shrubs and trees with scented bark

winter's bark tree
  • Specialized
9.9

A South American evergreen tree with fragrant leaves, bark used as medicine, and soft light wood

winter's bark
  • Literature
9.9

A South American tree bark used as a spice and traditional medicine

Surface Forms

bark infinitive
barked past
barked past participle
barking present participle
barks third person singular

Etymology

Bark (to remove or cover with bark) comes from the noun bark meaning tree 'skin', so to bark something is to put on or take off that tree 'skin'.