dock1
  
  n.
  - an enclosed area of water in a port for the loading, unloading, and repair of ships. 
▸N. Amer. a jetty or pier where a ship may moor.
 - 
(also loading dock)
 a platform for loading trucks or goods trains.
 
v.
   - (with reference to a ship) come or bring into a dock.
 - (of a spacecraft) join with a space station or another spacecraft in space.
 - attach (a piece of equipment) to another.
 
 
  Phrase
  
    
      - in dock
 Brit. informal out of action; indisposed. 
    
   
  Etymology
  ME: from MDu., Mid. Low Ger. docke, of unknown origin.
 
  
    
dock2
  
  n.
 the enclosure in a criminal court where a defendant stands or sits.
 
  Etymology
  C16: prob. orig. sl. and rel. to Flemish dok ‘chicken coop, rabbit hutch’.
 
  
    
dock3
  
  n.
 a coarse weed of temperate regions, with inconspicuous greenish or reddish flowers, and leaves that are used to relieve nettle stings. 
[Genus 
Rumex.]
 
  Etymology
  OE docce, of Gmc origin.
 
  
    
dock4
  
  v.
  - deduct (money or a point in a game).
 - cut short (an animal's tail).
 
n.
 the solid bony or fleshy part of an animal's tail. 
▸the stump left after a tail has been docked.
 
  Etymology
  ME (orig. in sense ‘solid part of an animal's tail’): perh. rel. to Frisian dok ‘bunch, ball (of string)’ and Ger. Docke ‘doll’.