dock
pronunciation
How to pronounce dock in British English:
UK [dɒk]
How to pronounce dock in American English:
US [dɑːk]
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- Noun:
- an enclosure in a court of law where the defendant sits during the trial
- any of certain coarse weedy plants with long taproots, sometimes used as table greens or in folk medicine
- a platform built out from the shore into the water and supported by piles; provides access to ships and boats
- a platform where trucks or trains can be loaded or unloaded
- landing in a harbor next to a pier where ships are loaded and unloaded or repaired; may have gates to let water in or out
- the solid bony part of the tail of an animal as distinguished from the hair
- a short or shortened tail of certain animals
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- Verb:
- come into dock
- deprive someone of benefits, as a penalty
- deduct from someone's wages
- remove or shorten the tail of an animal
- haul into a dock
Word Origin
- dock
- dock: English has no fewer than four distinct words dock. The oldest is the plant-name, which comes from Old English docce. Dock for ships [14] was borrowed from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch docke, which may have come from Vulgar Latin *ductia ‘duct, conduit’, a hypothetical derivative of Latin dūcere ‘lead’ (source of English, duke, educate, etc). Dock ‘cut off’ [14] was originally a verbal application of the noun dock ‘horse’s short tail’, which appears to go back to a Germanic *dukk- ‘bundle’; it may be the source of docket [15]. Dock for prisoners [16] was originally thieves’ slang, borrowed from Flemish dok ‘cage’.=> duke, educate, induce; docket
- dock (n.1)
- "ship's berth," late 15c., from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German docke, perhaps ultimately (via Late Latin *ductia "aqueduct") from Latin ducere "to lead" (see duke (n.)); or possibly from a Scandinavian word for "low ground" (compare Norwegian dokk "hollow, low ground"). Original sense perhaps "furrow a grounded vessel makes in a mud bank." As a verb from 1510s. Related: Docked; docking.
- dock (n.2)
- "where accused stands in court," 1580s, originally rogue's slang, from Flemish dok "pen or cage for animals," origin unknown.
- dock (v.)
- "cut an animal's tail," late 14c., from dok (n.) "fleshy part of an animal's tail" (mid-14c.), related to Old English -docca "muscle," from Proto-Germanic *dokko "something round, bundle" (cognates: Old Norse dokka "bundle, girl," Danish dukke "doll," German Docke "small column, bundle, doll, smart girl"). Meaning "to reduce (someone's) pay for some infraction" is first recorded 1822. Related: Docked; docking.
- dock (n.3)
- name for various tall, coarse weeds, Old English docce, from Proto-Germanic *dokkon (cognates: Middle Dutch docke-, German Docken-, Old Danish dokka), akin to Middle High German tocke "bundle, tuft," and ultimately to the noun source of dock (v.).
Example
- 1. The ship needs a proper dock to gets its heavier equipment onto land .
- 2. The dogs yelped as the yellow boat , laminated with ice , pulled into the dock .
- 3. Seeing so many boats in dock would usually indicate a storm is coming , mr lang says .
- 4. Democratic activists are desperate to put bushites in the dock .
- 5. It would make its own fresh water from seawater and have two helipads and a dock for boats .