Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- the place in a courtroom where a prisoner is placed during trial.
- in the dock, being tried in a court, especially a criminal court; on trial.
noun
- a wharf or pier
- a space between two wharves or piers for the mooring of ships
- an area of water that can accommodate a ship and can be closed off to allow regulation of the water level
- short for dry dock
- short for scene dock
- mainly US and Canadian a platform from which lorries, goods trains, etc, are loaded and unloaded
verb
- to moor (a vessel) at a dock or (of a vessel) to be moored at a dock
- to put (a vessel) into a dry dock for repairs or (of a vessel) to come into a dry dock
- (of two spacecraft) to link together in space or link together (two spacecraft) in space
noun
- the bony part of the tail of an animal, esp a dog or sheep
- the part of an animal’s tail left after the major part of it has been cut off
verb (tr)
- to remove (the tail or part of the tail) of (an animal) by cutting through the boneto dock a tail; to dock a horse
- to deduct (an amount) from (a person’s wages, pension, etc)they docked a third of his wages
noun
- an enclosed space in a court of law where the accused sits or stands during his trial
noun
- any of various temperate weedy plants of the polygonaceous genus Rumex, having greenish or reddish flowers and typically broad leaves
- any of several similar or related plants
“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” (cf. 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.
“where accused stands in court,” 1580s, originally rogue’s slang, from Flemish dok “pen or cage for animals,” origin unknown.
“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” (cf. 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.
name for various tall, coarse weeds, Old English docce, from Proto-Germanic *dokkon (cf. 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.).
On trial, especially in a criminal case. For example, The accused stood in the dock through the entire proceeding. This expression employs dock in the sense of “an enclosed place for the defendant in a court of law,” a usage dating from the late 1500s, and is used even in American courts where no such enclosure exists.
see in the dock.