Dictionary

bark up the wrong tree en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

An allusion to a situation in which a hunting dog misidentifies the tree up which it has chased an animal and positions itself at the base of another tree, barking upward at the branches.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) To take the wrong approach to a situation; to follow a false lead; to attempt to solve a problem using mistaken assumptions about its true nature.
   • The investigator spent days trying to prove the butler committed the murder, but it turns out he was barking up the wrong tree.
   • "We want West. He's a cowardly murderer—killed the man who trusted him." . . . "Of course we may be barking up the wrong tree," the officer reflected aloud. "Maybe West isn't within five hundred miles of here." 1922, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 19, in Man Size:
   • After three failed marriages I realised that I may have been barking up the wrong tree and should abandon the search for the perfect wife. 2008 September 2, Ken Russell, “Let my life flash before you, in paperback”, in Times Online, UK, retrieved 01 Oct 2010:
   • They all went into the house, and left me feeling a precious idiot. I had been barking up the wrong tree this time. 1915, John Buchan, chapter 10, in The Thirty-Nine Steps:
   • You're not the first man who has made such a mistake, and found he was barking up the wrong tree. 1894, Robert Barr, chapter 21, in In the Midst of Alarms:

Forms

Translations (24)

da tage fejl (bark up the wrong tree) · pt bater à porta errada (bark up the wrong tree) · fr se mettre le doigt dans l'œil (bark up the wrong tree) · he טיפס על העץ הלא נכון (bark up the wrong tree) · ru не тем заниматься (bark up the wrong tree) · fi haukkua väärää puuta (bark up the wrong tree) · ru не в ту степь поехать (bark up the wrong tree) · fr miser sur le mauvais cheval (bark up the wrong tree) · pl skupiać się na złej sprawie (bark up the wrong tree) · ru напа́сть на ло́жный след (bark up the wrong tree) · lt būti neteisiam (bark up the wrong tree) · da være på vildspor (bark up the wrong tree) · cs plakat na špatném hrobě (bark up the wrong tree) · es errar el tiro (bark up the wrong tree) · de auf dem Holzweg sein (bark up the wrong tree) · es petar a la puerta equivocado (bark up the wrong tree) · fr se tromper de cible (bark up the wrong tree) · pt bater na porta errada (bark up the wrong tree) · he טעה בכתובת (bark up the wrong tree) · it prendere un granchio (bark up the wrong tree) · nb ta feil (bark up the wrong tree) · fr faire fausse route (bark up the wrong tree) · da gå galt i byen (bark up the wrong tree) · nb bli villedet (bark up the wrong tree)