St Petersburg Docks in the early morning smog.

A dock (from Dutch 'dok') is a man-made feature involved in the handling of boats or ships. However the exact meaning varies between different variants of the English language. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1097x1594, 223 KB) Summary The Industrial docks of St Petersburg in the morning smog; picture taken by R Neil Marshman (c) August 2005 Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1097x1594, 223 KB) Summary The Industrial docks of St Petersburg in the morning smog; picture taken by R Neil Marshman (c) August 2005 Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to... It has been suggested that Haze be merged into this article or section. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

British English

In British English, a dock is an enclosed area of water used for loading, unloading, building or repairing ships. Such a dock may be created by building enclosing harbour walls into an existing natural water space, or by excavation within what would otherwise be dry land. British English (BrE, BE, en-GB) is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere in the Anglophone world. ... For other uses, see Ship (disambiguation). ...

There are two specific elaborations of the dock:

• Impounded docks are a variant in which the water is impounded either by dock gates or by a lock, thus allowing ships to remain afloat at low tide in places with high tidal ranges.
• Dry docks are a variant, also with dock gates, which can be emptied of water to allow investigation and maintenance of the underwater parts of ships.

A dockyard consists of one or more docks, usually with other structures. Canal locks in England. ... This article is about tides in the Earths oceans. ... U.S. Navy submarine USS Greeneville in dry dock following collision with a fishing boat. ... Small shipyard in Klaksvík (Faroe Islands), reparing fishing vessels Fish ladder and shipyard in Grave, the Netherlands Construction hall of Schichau Seebeck Shipyard, Bremerhaven Gdynia Shipyard Shipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. ...

American English

Small wooden docks can be constructed with few tools and minimal materials.

In American English, a dock is technically synonymous with pier or wharf—any human-made structure in the water intended for people to be on. However, in modern use, pier is generally used to refer to structures originally intended for industrial use, such as seafood processing or shipping, and more recently for cruise ships, and dock is used for most everything else, often with a qualifier, such as ferry dock, swimming dock, etc. However, pier is also commonly used to refer to wooden or metal structures that extend into the ocean from beaches and are used, for the most part, to accommodate fishing in the ocean without using a boat. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 571 pixelsFull resolution‎ (1,409 × 1,006 pixels, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 571 pixelsFull resolution‎ (1,409 × 1,006 pixels, file size: 1. ... For other uses, see American English (disambiguation). ... For architectural piers, see Pier (architecture). ... Metung Wharf on Bancroft Bay, Gippsland Lakes, Victoria, Australia A wharf is a fixed platform, commonly on pilings, roughly parallel to and alongside navigable water, where ships are loaded and unloaded. ... Spaghetti with seafood (Spaghetti allo scoglio). ... Damaged package The Panama canal. ... A cruise ship or a cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ships amenities are considered an essential part of the experience. ... China Ferry Terminal Hong Kong China Ferry Terminal (Chinese: 中國客運碼頭 or 中港碼頭) is a ferry terminal, located at China Hong Kong City, 33 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. ...

In American English, the term for the water area between piers is 'slip'. For other uses, see American English (disambiguation). ... In telecommunications, a slip is a positional displacement in a sequence of transmitted symbols that causes the loss or insertion of one or more symbols. ...

In the cottage country of Canada and the United States, a dock is a wooden platform built over water with one end secured to the shore. The platform is used for boarding and off loading small boats.


19th century Cottages in the small hamlet of Crafton, Buckinghamshire For other uses, see Cottage (disambiguation). ...

See also

• harbor
• marina
• ski dock

For other uses, see Harbor (disambiguation). ... A small marina at Brixham, Devon, England. ... A Ski Dock is a fixed platform, commonly on pilings, roughly parallel to and alongside navigable water, where ships are loaded and unloaded. ...

External links

• Marina Search - Find Marinas, Boat Slips and Marine Products & Services.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, dry-dock

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