barking
barking Lexical Profile
barking Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The sharp, explosive cry or series of cries made by a dog, fox, or seal.
"The continuous barking from the neighbor's yard kept the entire street awake."
British A suburban town in East London, England, located on the north bank of the River Thames within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.
The process of stripping the outer bark from trees or logs, or tanning leather using tree bark.
"In traditional forestry, the barking of felled oak timber was carried out in the spring."
• adjective
Making sharp, explosive vocal cries like those of a dog, or sounding harsh and abrupt like such cries.
"The child woke up in the middle of the night with a dry, barking cough."
British Completely crazy, foolish, or eccentric.
"Everyone at the meeting thought the director's latest business proposal was completely barking."
• adverb
British To a complete or extreme degree; utterly (used almost exclusively in the phrase 'barking mad').
"You must be barking mad to go swimming in the North Sea in the middle of January."
• Rhymes for barking
Word Origin & Etymology
The general senses derive from Old English 'beorcan' (to bark). The informal British sense meaning 'crazy' is a clipping of the slang phrase 'barking mad', originally likening a wildly irrational person to a howling or rabid dog.