dock

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)Any of the genus Rumex of coarse weedy plants with small green flowers related to buckwheat, especially bitter dock (Rumex obtusifolius), and used as potherbs and in folk medicine, especially in curing nettle rash.

   “And vnder neath him his courageous ſteed, / The fierce Spumador trode them downe like docks […]”

2. (countable, uncountable)A burdock plant, or the leaves of that plant.
3. The fleshy root of an animal's tail; specifically after clipping or cutting.

   “The Dock is about 1 inch thick, and two inches broad, like an Apothecaries Spatule. Of what length the whole, is uncertain, this being only part of it, though it looks as if cut off near the Buttock”

4. (obsolete)The buttocks or anus.

   “And on a Cuſhion ſtuffed with Flocks, / She clapt her dainty pair of Docks.”

5. A leather case used to cover the clipped or cut tail of a horse.
6. (US)A fixed structure attached to shore to which a vessel is secured when in port; usually for loading and unloading.

   “With just the turn of a shoulder she indicated the water front, where, at the end of the dock on which they stood, lay the good ship, Mount Vernon, river packet, the black smoke already pouring from her stacks.”

7. (UK)The body of water next to and around a pier.
8. The area of arrival and departure of a train in a railway station.
9. A section of a hotel or restaurant.

   “coffee dock”

10. A device designed as a base for holding a connected portable appliance for providing the necessary electrical charge for its autonomy, or as a hardware extension for additional capabilities.
11. A toolbar that provides the user with a way of launching applications by their icons, and switching between running applications.
12. An act or instance of docking; joining two things together.
13. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)Ellipsis of scene-dock.
14. Part of a courtroom where the accused sits.

verb

1. (transitive)To clip or cut off a section of an animal's tail; to practise a caudectomy.

   “The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track.[…]Their example was followed by others at a time when the master of Mohair was superintending in person the docking of some two-year-olds, and equally invisible.”

2. (transitive)To reduce (wages); to deduct from (someone).

   “Her wages were docked by ten dollars.”

   “The team have been docked six points at Paris 2024 and Priestman received a one-year football ban from world governing body Fifa.”

3. (informal, transitive)To reduce the wages of (a person).

   “They docked me ten dollars for breaking the vase.”

4. (transitive)To cut off, bar, or destroy.

   “to dock an entail”

5. (transitive)To pierce holes, as pricking dough with a fork, to prevent excessive rising in the oven.

   “Pricking holes in the rolled-out pie dough allows the steam to escape while it's baking. Without this, the steam would puff up in bubbles and pockets throughout the crust, which would make some parts of the crust cook too quickly and also result in an uneven surface for your filling. Docking is simple. Just roll out your pie dough and lift it into the pan. After pressing it in and shaping the edge, prick it all over with a fork.”

6. (intransitive)To land at a harbour.

   “On 28 February, for example, a US Navy ship docked in Nampo, the port for Pyongyang, with equipment for joint searches for remains of US soldiers missing from the 1950-1953 Korean War. China may look askance at the US and North Korean militaries working together like this.”

7. To join two moving items.

   “to dock spacecraft”

   “A “moving platform” scheme[…]is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays.”

8. To move a spaceship into its dock/berth under its own power.
9. (intransitive, slang, vulgar)In male homosexual sex, to engage in docking, the inserting of the tip of one participant's penis into the foreskin of the other participant.
10. (transitive)To drag a user interface element (such as a toolbar) to a position on screen where it snaps into place.
11. (transitive)To place (an electronic device) in its dock.

    “I docked the laptop and allowed it to recharge for an hour.”

name

1. (US, dated, rare)A male given name or nickname.
2. A surname.