▪ I. barking, vbl. n.1
(ˈbɑːkɪŋ)
[f. bark v.1]
1. The utterance of a dog's sharp explosive cry.
| c 1300 K. Alis. 4966 From the brest to the grounde Men hy ben, abouen houndes. Berkyng of houndes hy habbe. 1684 Burnet tr. More's Utop. 122 What pleasure..in hearing the barking and howling of Dogs? 1795 Southey Occas. Pieces iii. Wks. II. 222 His barkings loud and quick. |
b. transf. Harsh coughing.
| 1813 Examiner 1 Feb. 75/1 The play went on, amidst croaking, squeaking, barking. |
2. fig. Angry or assailing outcry.
| 1549 Olde Erasm. Par. 1st Tim. iv. 11 Feare not any mens barkinges. 1857 Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art 35 To launch out into sudden barking at the first faults you see. |
▪ II. ˈbarking, vbl. n.2
[f. bark v.2 + -ing1.]
1. Steeping in an infusion of bark; tanning.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 25 Barkynge of lethyr, frunicio. 1865 Intell. Observ. No. 38. 107 [The] Barking the nets of the fishermen. |
2. The action of stripping off bark from trees; the cutting away of a ring of bark, so as to kill the tree, otherwise called ring-barking. barking-irons: tools used for this purpose.
| 1545 Act 37 Hen. VIII, vi. §1 Barking of Apple-trees. 1773 Barnard in Phil. Trans. LXIII. 218 Directing the falling and barking of a large quantity of timber. 1845 S. Judd Margaret i. iii. 12 Here were a draw-shave, a cross-cut saw..barking irons, a scythe. 1878 P. Bayne Purit. Rev. iii. 71 In order to blight and kill a whole forest..it is not necessary to fell every tree, but only..to perform the operation of barking. 1884 Australasian 8 Nov. 875/1 In ring-barking a belt of bark about a foot in width is taken off the tree. |
▪ III. ˈbarking, ppl. a.1
[f. bark v.1 + -ing2.]
1. Uttering barks; ‘giving tongue,’ yelping.
| 1552 Huloet s.v. Addition, A barking dogge. 1842 Tennyson Day-Dream 136 Barking dogs and crowing cocks. |
2. a. transf. Uttering harsh, rough, or angry sounds, like a dog's barking; harsh-sounding.
| 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie (1869) 258 The rude and barking language of the Affricans. c 1800 Kirke White Christm.-Day 36 He had words To soothe the barking waves. |
b. barking-bird, the Pteroptochus Tarnu, of Chiloe, so named from its voice; barking deer, the Indian muntjac, Cervulus muntjac, found in India, Burma, and Tibet; so named from its call; barking iron (slang), a pistol; barking spider (see quot. 1952); barking wolf U.S. = coyote.
| 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. xiii. (1873) 288 An allied species is called by the natives ‘Guidguid,’ and by the English the barking-bird. |
| 1880 Encycl. Brit. XII. 742/2 The barking deer or muntjac (Cervulus vaginalis). 1898 Geogr. Jrnl. XI. 502 The small barking deer, called ‘pause’ by the natives. 1939 A. Keith Land below Wind xiv. 259 There is no meat as sweet as barking deer. |
| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Barking Irons, pistols, from their explosion resembling the bow-wow or barking of a dog. (Irish). 1825 Paulding John Bull in Amer. 56 Seeing the barking iron [he] shrunk back. |
| 1847 Le Fanu T. O'Brien 63 Put up your barking-iron, and no more noise. 1934 Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Jan. 21/4 The barking spider of Central Australia and other stridulating species can probably hear quite well. 1952 A. G. Mitchell in Chambers's Shorter Eng. Dict. Suppl. 790/1 Barking spider, a large reddish-brown spider of Central Australia, said to produce a barking or whistling sound. |
| 1826 J. D. Godman Amer. Nat. Hist. I. 260 The Prairie or Barking Wolf..frequents the prairies..of the west. 1867 Amer. Naturalist I. 289 The Prairie or Barking Wolf (Canis latrans, Say), is by far the most abundant carnivorous animal in Arizona, as it is also in almost every part of the West. |
3. fig. Raising clamorous outcry, noisily aggressive.
| 1599 Marston Sco. Villanie ii. vii. 205, I stop thy currish barking chops. 1641 Milton Ch. Discip. ii. Wks. (1851) 40 His barking curses, and Excommunications. 1845 Ford Handbk. Spain i. 21 Bread and salt can appease the wayfarer's barking stomach. |
▪ IV. ˈbarking, ppl. a.2
[f. bark v.2 + -ing2.]
That ‘barks’; following the trade of a tanner.
| c 1600 Rob. Hood (Ritson) xxxv. 39 Barking tanner's sons. |