Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BARK, or BARQUE, n. [Ir. barc; Fr. barque; Russ. barka; It. and Sp. barca.]

A small ship; but appropriately, a ship which carries three masts without a mizzen top-sail. The English mariners in the coal trade, apply this name to a broad-sterned ship without a figure-head. – Encyc. Mar. Dict. Water-barks, in Holland, are small vessels for conveying fresh water from place to place, the hold of which is filled with water. – Encyc.