bark up the wrong tree

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.

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bark up the wrong tree

1. (idiomatic) To do, believe, or pursue something wrong or inappropriate; to take the wrong approach; to follow a false lead; to blame or rebuke the wrong person.
   • 1894, Robert Barr, chapter 21, in In the Midst of Alarms:

     You're not the first man who has made such a mistake, and found he was barking up the wrong tree.

   • 1915, John Buchan, chapter 10, in The Thirty-Nine Steps:

     They all went into the house, and left me feeling a precious idiot. I had been barking up the wrong tree this time.

   • 1922, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 19, in Man Size:

     "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."

   • 2008 September 2, Ken Russell, "Let my life flash before you, in paperback," Times Online (UK) (retrieved 1 Oct 2010):

     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.

• Often used in the present participial form: barking up the wrong tree.