ENGLISH
REFERENCE

dock

n. · v.
US //ˈdɑk// UK //dˈɒk// dock
  1. 1 for ships (n.)
    B1 Intermediate Nautical

    a place in a port where ships are loaded, unloaded, or repaired.

    a structure extending from the shore or an enclosed area of water in a port for the mooring, loading, and unloading of vessels.

    Example

    The cruise ship pulled into the dock early in the morning to let the passengers off.

    Example

    The freighter remained at the dock for three days while crews worked around the clock to discharge the containerised cargo.
  2. 2 in a courtroom (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate Law

    the place in a court of law where the person accused of a crime stands or sits.

    the enclosed area in a criminal court where the defendant is situated during a trial.

    Example

    The prisoner stood in the dock and waited for the jury to announce the verdict.

    Example

    As the charges were read aloud, the defendant sat motionless in the dock, staring fixedly at the judge.

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  1. 3 electronic base (n.)
    B1 Intermediate Electronics

    a device you put a phone or laptop into to charge it or connect it to other equipment.

    a stationary device providing power and peripheral connections for portable electronic hardware.

    Example

    I keep a laptop dock on my desk so I can easily use a bigger monitor.

    Example

    The universal dock allows employees to transition seamlessly from mobile field work to a full desktop environment.
  2. 4 to park a ship (v.)
    B1 Intermediate Nautical

    to bring a ship or boat into a dock.

    to maneuver a vessel into a berth or alongside a pier; also used for the physical coupling of spacecraft.

    Example

    The captain had to move slowly to dock the large ferry safely in the narrow harbour.

    Example

    The automated system was designed to dock the supply capsule with the space station without requiring manual intervention from the ground crew.
  3. 5 to reduce pay (v.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    to take away part of someone's wages or points as a punishment.

    to deduct a portion of money from wages or to reduce an earned score as a penalty.

    Example

    The company will dock your pay if you are late for work more than three times.

    Example

    The governing body decided to dock the team three points following a breach of the league's financial regulations.
  4. 6 to join together (v.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate Computing

    to connect two things together, like a phone to a computer or two parts of a machine.

    to join or couple two separate entities, such as hardware components or software interface elements.

    Example

    You can dock the tablet into the keyboard to use it like a laptop.

    Example

    The software allows users to dock various toolbars along the edges of the workspace to maximise the central drawing area.
  5. 7 a weed (n.)
    C2 Proficiency Technical

    a common wild plant with large, green leaves.

    any of various plants of the genus Rumex, often regarded as weeds.

    Example

    If you get stung by a nettle, rubbing a dock leaf on the skin might help.

    Example

    The meadow was overgrown with dock and thistle, indicating that the soil had not been tilled for several seasons.
    • sorrel
Etymology 1

From Middle English dokke, from Old English docce, from Proto-West Germanic dokkā, from Proto-Germanic dukkǭ (compare Old Danish dokke (“water-dock”), West Flemish dokke, dokkebladeren (“coltsfoot, butterbur”)), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰew- (“dark”) (compare Latvian duga (“scum, slime on water”)).

Etymology 2

A horse with a fully docked (etymology 2 sense 1) tail A dog with a partially docked (etymology 2 sense 1) tail From Middle English dok (“trimmed hair, dock”), from Old English docce, docca (as in fingerdocce (“finger muscles”)), from Proto-West Germanic dokkā, from Proto-Germanic dukkǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeu-k- (“to spin, shake”). Compare Icelandic dokkur (“stumpy tail”), Low German Dokke (“bundle of straw”), West Frisian dok (“bunch, ball (twine)”), Albanian dak (“big ram”), Lithuanian dvė̃kti (“to breathe, wheeze”), dvãkas (“breath”), Sanskrit धुक्षति (dhukṣati, “to blow”). The verb is from Middle English dokken (“to cut short, dock, curtail”), derived from the noun.

Etymology 3

A dock (etymology 3 sense 1, etymology 3 sense 2) for cruise ships A laptop docking (etymology 3 sense 5) station A GUI dock (etymology 3 sense 6) on Linux From Early Modern English meaning "area of mud in which a ship can rest at low tide, dock", borrowed from either Dutch dok (“dock, wharf”) or Middle Low German docke (“dock, wharf”), both from Middle Dutch docke (“port, harbour”), of uncertain origin. The original sense may have been "the furrow a grounded vessel makes in a mud bank". Compare Danish dok, Dutch dok, West Frisian dok, German Dock, Low German Dock, Swedish docka. Some sources link this word to an unattested Middle Dutch *docke (“watercourse, trench, canal”), which is a ghost word, only being inferred from Mediaeval Latin documents in the form of ducta, doctus, doccia (“conduit, canal”). However, if this theory is correct, then it would relate the word to Italian doccia (“drainpipe”), making dock a doublet of douche and duct. An alternative theory ties Middle Dutch docke to a North Germanic or Scandinavian source, notably Old Norse dǫkk, dökð (“depression in the landscape, pit, pool, trench”); compare Icelandic dökk, Norwegian dokk (“hollow, low ground”), Swedish dank (“marshy ground”). If so, this would make dock a doublet of dank.

Etymology 4

Originally criminal slang; from or akin to obsolete Dutch (West Flemish) dok (“cage, hutch”) or docke (“cage”), possibly from Middle Dutch docke (“block, wooden object”), related to Middle Low German docke (“tenon, banister rod, bench cheek, side panel of a pew”), of uncertain origin.

Word family

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