Word Confusion: Doc versus Dock

Plural for the abbreviation: docs

Plural for the noun: docks

Third person present verb: docks
Past tense or past participle: docked
Present participle: docking

A casual, impersonal term of address used to a man

Computing document

• A filename extension for word processing documents in the proprietary Microsoft Word Binary File Format

[All caps] Department of Commerce

[All caps; used of wines] Denominazione di Origine Controllata

[All caps; New Zealand) Department of Conservation

[All caps] Deoxycorticosterone (a steroid hormone secreted by the adrenal cortex or produced synthetically and used to treat adrenal insufficiency)

[All caps] Deoxycholic acid (a bile acid used as a choleretic and digestant and in the synthesis of adrenocortical hormones such as cortisone)

• An enclosed area of water in a port for the loading, unloading, and repair of ships
• [docks] A group of enclosed areas of water along with the wharves and buildings near them
• [Short for dry dock] A structure able to contain a ship and to be drained or lifted so as to leave the ship free of water with all parts of the hull accessible for repairs, painting, etc.
• [loading dock] A platform for loading or unloading trucks or freight trains

An airplane hangar or repair shed

[scene dock] A place in a theater near the stage or beneath the floor of the stage for the storage of scenery

A device in which a laptop computer, smartphone, or other mobile device may be placed for charging, providing access to a power supply and to peripheral devices or auxiliary features

The solid bony or fleshy part of an animal’s tail, excluding the hair ²

• The stump left after a tail has been docked

The enclosure in a criminal court where a defendant is placed ³

A coarse weed of temperate regions, with inconspicuous greenish or reddish flowers ⁴

• Genus Rumex, family Polygonaceae
• A type of buckwheat

Verb, intransitive:
[Of a ship] Tie up at a dock, especially in order to load or unload passengers or cargo ¹

• [Of a spacecraft] Join with a space station or another spacecraft in space
• Attach a piece of equipment to another

Verb, transitive:
Bring a ship or boat into a dock ¹

[Usually be docked] Deduct something, especially an amount of money ²

• To deduct from the wages of, usually as a punishment
• To deduct from wages

To cut off the end of

• Cut short an animal’s tail
• Cut short

Print those file docs out, Henry.

Handling PDF docs is not always an easy thing.

Yes, but is it a .doc file or a .docx one?

Have you looked for your doc in the trash?

Is the doc in?

Doc, I got this pain in my . . .

Has Clyde over at the DOC seen this yet?

DOC had once been a common emulsifier in food.

DOC is a precursor molecule for the production of aldosterone.

The DOC has information and maps for parks and reserves, tracks, hunting, huts, and campsites.

Get her to dock number 3.

The docks in Thistlewaite were built on a curve.

She’ll be laid up in dry dock for a few months.

Take that load ’round back to the loading dock.

I just got this great wireless docking station.

We’ll cut the hair of the tail skirt short, just past the end of the natural dock of the tail.

The nine others in the dock face a combination of charges.

Dock is popularly used to relieve nettle stings.

Verb, intransitive:
The ship docked at San Francisco last week.

The shuttle carefully docked up against the space station.

Hey, Joe. I gotta user wants to dock a portable into a desktop computer.

Verb, transitive:
That’s the riverbank where the fur traders docked their boats.

I had to dock your pay, Jamie.

The boss docked him a day’s pay.

The boss docked his paycheck $20.

We had to dock Rover’s tail.

Tails are docked and ears are cropped.

They can only dock the tail of “working” dogs.

1. Late Middle English from the Middle Dutch, the Middle Low German docke, which is of unknown origin.
2. Late Middle English and perhaps related to the Frisian dok meaning bunch, ball (of string), etc., and the German Docke meaning doll.
   • The original noun sense was the solid part of an animal’s tail.
   • The verb sense cut short an animal’s tail, was later generalized to mean reduce, deduct.
3. Late 16th century and of unknown origin. It was probably slang originally and related to the Flemish dok meaning chicken coop, rabbit hutch.
4. Old English docce, is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch dialect dokke.