Meaning of ‘Barking Up The Wrong Tree’
The idiom ‘barking up the wrong tree’ means making a wrong assumption about someone or something. It refers to a person who mistakenly directs their accusations towards the wrong person.
Example: The cookies were missing from the kitchen, and John blamed his son. But he was barking up the wrong tree, because the real mastermind behind it all was the mother, who secretly ate them while nobody was looking.
Similar Phrases: jumping to conclusions, looking in the wrong place, off base, off the mark
Related Idioms:
Want to learn about other common English phrases that start with B? Check out our list of Idioms Starting With B for a lot more.
Origin of ‘Barking Up The Wrong Tree’
What’s the origin of the phrase ‘barking up the wrong tree’? This common expression is believed to come from dogs and hunting. Here is why:
Dogs are sometimes used during hunts because of their strong sense of smell, their ability to chase and track other animals, and they add a bit of extra security for the hunter.
While out hunting in the wild, a dog may give chase if it spots another animal. During the chase, the fleeing animal may attempt to escape its barking pursuer by climbing a nearby tree.
Dogs are not the most skilled climbers, so normally they’ll just stay on the ground and start barking up the tree rather than going up after the animal. The dog’s relentless barking indicates to the hunter where the fleeing animal has gone to. Now, during all of this, it’s possible that the dog makes a mistake and chooses the wrong tree. If this were to happen, they would literally be ‘barking up the wrong tree,’ as the saying goes. (See the picture above for a depiction of this.)
Anyway, now let’s look at how old this idiom is. It goes back to at least the early to mid-19th century. For example, its earliest appearance in print (from what I’ve seen) is from the Knickerbocker Magazine, 1836:
”You’ve been barking up the wrong tree, cried the Ohioan.”
Example Sentences
Let’s look at a few usage cases for the common phrase ‘barking up the wrong tree.’
Example Sentences:
1. My teacher was barking up the wrong tree when she accused me of cheating on the test, but she later apologized after realizing I was innocent.
2. A group of friends spent hours trying to fix an audio issue on their laptop, but they barked up the wrong tree because it just needed a restart.
Example Sentences That Use Similar Phrases:
1. He thought he left the important documents at home, but he was off the mark—they were in the car the whole time.
2. The neighbors were jumping to conclusions when they accused me of being too noisy—It was actually someone else making the racket.