Bark Up the Wrong Tree

Meaning of Idiom ‘Bark Up the Wrong Tree’

To bark up the wrong tree means to waste your time or energy by doing something in the wrong way or by taking the wrong path; to do something based on an incorrect line of thought or course of action. ¹Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. ²Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth M. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms. Ware: Wordsworth, 1995. ³ Ayto, John. Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms. Oxford: Oxford U, 2010.

The form this expression takes is usually the present participle form, ‘barking up the wrong tree.’

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Sentence Examples

“The FBI went after the company’s accountant for a year but it turns out they were barking up the wrong tree. He wasn’t the embezzler at all.”

“If you think you can force me to resign you’re barking up the wrong tree,” said the embattled politician.

“Look, I can’t loan you any more money,” said Frank. “You’re barking up the wrong tree.”

“Look, I understand the pressure to stand for something in an institution like this… but you’re barking up the wrong tree. Okay?” — Dear White People (2014)

“Mrs. Fletcher, you’re a very shrewd cookie, but you’re barking up the wrong tree.” —  Murder, She Wrote (1984)

“Has he ever been violent around you?” “No. Look, you’re barking up the wrong tree. Mr. Benson might be a little cold, but he’d never hurt Sully.” — A Deadly Adoption (2015)

“Listen, if I make Jennings think that the FBI’s onto him, it’ll spook him. He’ll burn his books.” “Not if he thinks the bureau’s barking up the wrong tree.” —  White Collar: Need to Know (2010)

“If you were hoping to manipulate me, you are barking up the wrong tree.” — Black Sails: VII (2014)

“Mister, I think we’re barking up the wrong tree. There’s nothing out here for miles.” — Smallville: Harvest (2010)

“They’re not even barking up the wrong tree, they’re in the wrong forest.” — In Divine Proportion (2005)

Origin

From the early 1800’s, this idiom American idioms comes from raccoon-hunting, which usually took place at night. Sometimes, a raccoon being pursued by dogs would manage to fools the pursuers as to which tree he scrambled up causing the dog or dogs to focus all their attention on the wrong tree, barking up at the raccoon that was not there. Thus the dogs were “barking up the wrong tree.” Of course, it is also possible for hunting-dogs to bark up the wrong tree in other types of hunting, such as squirrel hunting ⁴Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. ⁵ Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth M. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms. Ware: Wordsworth, 1995.

More Idioms Starting with B

• Be in Someone’s Hair
• Beat a Dead Horse
• Be a 10, to
• Buck For Something
• Bottomless Pit

More Bark Idioms

More Tree Idioms

• Can’t See the Forest for the Trees
• Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees
• Talk the Bark Off a Tree
• Old Chestnut

More Up Idioms

• Drive Someone Up the Wall
• Go Belly Up
• Get Your Dander Up
• Screw Up
• Jig is Up, the

More Wrong Idioms

• Rub Someone the Wrong Way
• Wrong Side of the Tracks, the
• Get Up on the Wrong Side of the Bed, to
• Dead Wrong

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