BARK UP THE WRONG TREE Definition & Meaning

bark up the wrong tree

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Idioms and Phrases

Waste one's efforts by pursuing the wrong thing or path, as in If you think I can come up with more money, you're barking up the wrong tree . This term comes from the nocturnal pursuit of raccoon-hunting with the aid of dogs. Occasionally a raccoon fools the dogs, which crowd around a tree, barking loudly, not realizing their quarry has taken a different route. [Early 1800s]

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

We root for the underdog, we bark up the wrong tree and then we’re in the doghouse.

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The information disparity between the two characters has been a driving source of intrigue, allowing the audience to crave Hannah’s leads while smugly watching Kirkman bark up the wrong tree.

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You lose your head and you bark up the wrong tree.

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It would have been nearer the truth to say that he had hardly closed his eyes since the night of Cynthia Farrow's death, but he knew that if he said that Sangster would at once bark up the wrong tree, and conclude that he was fretting for her—breaking his heart for her, whereas he was doing nothing of the kind.

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The terms "innocent," "acknowledge the corn," "bark up the wrong tree," "great snakes," "I reckon," "playing 'possum," "dead shot," had their origin in the Southern States.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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