bark

Universal Words noun, verb noun [U,C] 1 the outer covering of a tree 2 the short loud sound made by dogs and some other animals 3 a short loud sound made by a gun or a voice: a bark of laughter IDIOMS sb's bark is worse than their bite (informal) used to say that sb is not really as angry or as fierce as they sound verb 1 [V] ~ (at sb/sth) when a dog barks, it makes a short loud sound: The dog suddenly started barking at us. 2 ~ (out) sth to give orders, ask questions, etc. in a loud, unfriendly way: [VN] She barked out an order. * He barked questions at her. [also Vspeech] 3 (especially BrE) to rub the skin off your knee, etc. by falling or by knocking against sth SYNGRAZE: I barked my shins when I fell on the steps. IDIOMS be barking up the wrong tree (informal) to have the wrong idea about how to get or achieve sth: You're barking up the wrong tree if you're expecting us to lend you any money.