See Also: dock(5)(dictionary)
dock(encyclopedia)
dock(4)(dictionary)
dock(3)(dictionary)
dock(2)(dictionary)
dock(1)(dictionary)
dock(6)(dictionary)
Dock(medicine)
dry dock(dictionary)
St Katharine's Dock(dictionary)

dock(4) (iou)



dock noun4. L16.
[Prob. orig. a cant word and identical with Flemish dok fowl-pen, rabbit-hutch.]
The enclosure in a courtroom in which the prisoner is placed during a criminal trial. Orig., one filled with prisoners whose trial was scheduled for the day (see bail-dock s.v. BAIL noun2).
in the dock fig. under scrutiny or interrogation for some suspected misdeed.
Comb.: dock brief a brief handed in court directly to a barrister selected from those present by a prisoner in the dock (instead of through the agency of a solicitor).
? Hardly known before E19 exc. in bail-dock.