Meaning

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..

Definitions by Sense

1. 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.
2. A burdock plant, or the leaves of that plant.
3. The fleshy root of an animal's tail; specifically after clipping or cutting.
4. (obsolete) The buttocks or anus.
5. A leather case used to cover the clipped or cut tail of a horse.
6. (transitive) To clip or cut off a section of an animal's tail; to practise a caudectomy.
7. (transitive) To reduce (wages); to deduct from (someone).
8. (transitive, informal) To reduce the wages of (a person).

Example Sentences

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

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

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

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.

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.

They docked me ten dollars for breaking the vase.

to dock an entail

Word Forms

• docks
• docking
• docked

Synonyms for dock

Antonyms for dock

Related Words

When Should You Use Dock?

Use dock when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

Practice This Word

Frequently Asked Questions