釋義：

Bark: If you bark at someone, you shout at them aggressively in a loud, rough voice. 咆哮,本來的意思是狗叫；The wrong tree：錯誤的那棵樹；

字面來看，bark up the wrong tree意思是對著錯誤的樹咆哮； in English, it means: To make a wrong assumption about someone or something. 意思就是說：對某事或者某人做出了錯誤的假定，也就是攻擊錯了目標；

If a person is being falsely accused of something, they might use this phrase to inform the accuser that they are mistaken. 如果有人被錯誤地指責，那么他們就可以用這個詞組去告訴對方，讓對方了解到自己攻擊錯了對象；

來源：

The origin of this phrase is believed to be rooted in dogs and hunting. Dogs are sometimes used during hunting because of their strong sense of smell, their ability to chase and track other animals.

傳說這個slang與打獵和獵狗有關；狗因為嗅覺的靈敏和身手的敏捷而被用來追蹤獵物。

After spotting another animal, a dog will likely give chase. The fleeing animal, may decide to climb a tree in order to get away.

狗在看到獵物時，就很有可能去追。逃跑的獵物就會上樹，于是狗就會在樹下叫。但有時候狗會犯錯誤，就是沒有找到獵物藏身的那棵樹，那么這個時候夠就是bark up the wrong tree了。

舉例：

1.王小二因為世界杯賭球欠了一屁股債，于是又跑去向他的老爸借錢，老爸很生氣，于是說：

If you wanna borrow money from me, you bark up the wrong tree.

要想找我借錢，你找錯了對象。

2.又比如說王小二去了一趟動物園后，錢包不見了，于是懷疑是那只來猴子偷走了，但事實并不是這樣，那么我們就可以說：

I know you think the monkey in the zoo took your wallet, but you are barking up the wrong tree.

我知道你認為是動物園的猴子拿走了你的錢包，但是你搞錯了。