Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. the human skin; thus take the bark off, to beat, to thrash.

1690		‘Voyage to Maryland’ Mundus Muliebris 2: He that will needs to Marry-Land Adventure, first must understand For’s Bark, what Tackle to prepare [...] Two Night-Rails, and a Scarf beset With a great Lace, a Colleret.
1731		Beau’s Misc. 69: The Shepherdess my Bark caress’d, Whilst he my Root (Love’s Pillows) kiss’d.
c.1758		A. Ramsay Poems 88: And dang bark Aff’s shin [F&H].
1812		J. Bell Jr. (ed.) Rhymes of Northern Bards 185: His boddy was soddy and sore he was bruised, / The bark of his shins was all standing in peaks.
1830		Morn. Chron. 16 June 4/5: The latter had the bark taken from his kissing-trap and the claret exhibited Jem’s happy knack of ‘drawing a cork’.
1843–4		Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit (1995) 331: To the great detriment of what is called by fancy gentlemen ‘the bark’ upon his shins, which were most unmercifully bumped against the hard leather and the iron buckets.
1850		Bell’s Life in Sydney 20 Apr. 1/5: Tass displayed a bump on the forehead, ditto on both cheeks, from whence the bark had been displaced.
1854		‘Cuthbert Bede’ Adventures of Mr Verdant Green (1982) II 166: While to another he would say, as a fact not to be disputed [...] ‘That’ll take the bark from your nozzle, and distil the Dutch pink for you, won’t it?’.
1866		Wild Boys of London I 37/1: My boots is thick, and them stockings ain’t much good to cover the bark of your shin bone.
1870		in G.D. Atkin House Scraps (1887) 54: His ‘dexter ogle’ has a ‘mouse’; His conk’s devoid of bark.
1876		Family Herald 2 Dec. 80 I: With the bark all off his shins from a blow with a hockey stick [F&H].
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 28 Aug. 13/4: No reporter should enter the witness box with the ‘bark’ off his nose.
1882		Dundee Courier (Scot.) 23 June 7/5: A woe-begone spectacle, with the ‘bark’ of his nose, and his ‘inexpressibles’ torn at both knees.
1909		H. Thompson ‘Another Station Ballad’ in Ballads About Business and Back-Block Life 43: It’s ninety in the shade [...] the skin peels off yer nose [...] The sorrows of the clerk, / Sittin’ in a shady office / While yer sheddin’ off yer bark.
1913		Sport (Adelaide) 29 Nov. 4/3: Heard Dick H. had a little bark off his nose.
1920		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 14 July 7/4: [A] slip and heavy faII [...] knocking the bark off his forehead, and the senses out of his head.
1927		C.M. Russell Trails Plowed Under 50: Barrin’ bein’ covered with blood an’ the bark peeled off me in places where Mister Bull drags me, I’m all right.
1944		‘Jiver’s Bible’ in D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 790: bark – The skin.
1974		(con. 1930s) I. Agnew Loner 93: It’s just a bit of bark off.
1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 157: He had a lot of bark and a few pieces of scalp missing but nothing appeared to be broken.
1992		R.G. Barrett White Shoes 251: A bit of a fat lip, a small mouse under each eye and a bit of bark missing.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] When the fight ended we both had bark off us and torn school uniforms.

2. any skin, or animal hide.

1849		W.C. Hall ‘Mike Hooter’s Fight with the ‘Bar’’ in Spirit of the Times 10 Nov. (N.Y.) 452: If it’s the same to you, I’ll jist peel the bark off’n you.
1925		J. Stevens ‘Logger Talk’ AS I:3 137/2: Chase us some of them spuds with the bark on (unpeeled potatoes).