debark
debark Lexical Profile
debark Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To leave a ship or aircraft; to cause or assist passengers or cargo to go ashore or unload from a vessel.
"The passengers waited patiently in the main lounge until the crew announced that it was time to debark at the port."
To strip or remove the outer bark from a tree or log.
"Workers at the sawmill use high-pressure water jets to debark the timber before slicing it into planks."
To surgically remove tissue from the vocal cords of a dog in order to reduce the volume of its bark.
"Many veterinary associations strongly oppose requests to debark healthy dogs purely for the owner's convenience."
• Rhymes for debark
Word Origin & Etymology
In the sense of leaving a vessel, the word was borrowed in the mid-17th century from French débarquer, formed from dé- ('away from') and barque ('ship'). The forestry and veterinary senses arose independently in English by adding the privative prefix de- to the native nouns bark ('tree covering' or 'dog's cry').