docket

American  

[dok-it] / ˈdɒk ɪt /

noun

• dockets
  plural

1. Also called trial docket.  a list of cases in court for trial, or the names of the parties who have cases pending.

2. Chiefly British.

   1. an official memorandum or entry of proceedings in a legal cause.

   2. a register of such entries.

   3. any of various certificates or warrants giving the holder right to obtain, buy, or move goods that are controlled by the government, as a custom-house docket certifying duty has been paid.

3. the list of business to be transacted by a board, council, legislative assembly, or the like.

4. British. a writing on a letter or document stating its contents; any statement of particulars attached to a package, envelope, etc.; a label or ticket.

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verb (used with object)

• dockets,
  present (3rd person singular)
• docketed,
  past participle,  past
• docketing
  present participle

1. Law. to enter in the docket of the court.

2. Law. to make an abstract or summary of the heads of, as a document; abstract and enter in a book.

   judgments regularly docketed.

3. to endorse (a letter, document, etc.) with a memorandum.

docket British  

/ ˈdɒkɪt /

noun

1. a piece of paper accompanying or referring to a package or other delivery, stating contents, delivery instructions, etc, sometimes serving as a receipt

2. law

   1. an official summary of the proceedings in a court of justice

   2. a register containing such a summary

3. 1. a customs certificate declaring that duty has been paid

   2. a certificate giving particulars of a shipment and allowing its holder to obtain a delivery order

4. a summary of contents, as in a document

5. a list of things to be done

6. law

   1. a list of cases awaiting trial

   2. the names of the parties to pending litigation

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verb

1. to fix a docket to (a package, etc)

2. law

   1. to make a summary of (a document, judgment, etc)

   2. to abstract and enter in a book or register

3. to endorse (a document, etc) with a summary

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• redocket
  verb (used with object)
• undocketed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• dockets
  plural

Participles

• docketing
  present
• docketed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• docket
  simple
• dockets
  simple
• have docketed
  perfect
• has docketed
  perfect
• am docketing
  progressive
• are docketing
  progressive
• is docketing
  progressive
• have been docketing
  perfect progressive
• has been docketing
  perfect progressive

Past

• docketed
  simple
• had docketed
  perfect
• was docketing
  progressive
• were docketing
  progressive
• had been docketing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will docket
  simple
• will have docketed
  perfect
• will be docketing
  progressive
• will have been docketing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of docket

First recorded in 1475–85; earlier dogget, of obscure origin

Explanation

If someone asks you what’s on your docket for the day, she really just wants to know what you’re doing today. Likewise, if someone complains that he has a full docket, he’s saying that he is very busy. While docket, as used above, is another word for agenda or schedule, it is most commonly used to mean the calendar for a court of law, specifically, the schedule of pending cases. In the United Kingdom, a docket is a list or label affixed to the outside of a package detailing what is inside.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

docket dockets docketed docketing

Its control over its docket, the building it sits in, all these things.

From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026

As of Monday, the court’s public docket showed the government had dropped all three cases.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

Congress should address the shadow docket in three ways.

From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2026

It means training dollars go to docket management and evidence law, not to programming on contested social or political questions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026

Teaching and increased fund-raising responsibilities got piled on top of my bulging litigation docket, but somehow things progressed.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

Meanwhile, the internet has destroyed the local newspapers that once could send reporters into county courts to check the dockets.

From MarketWatch ● May 5, 2026

It would be the disbandment of this investigative unit by Mr Mchunu that led to Gen Mkhwanazi's explosive briefing a fortnight ago, complaining that 121 case dockets were "gathering dust" at the national police headquarters.

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2025

With more than 40 lawsuits on court dockets around the country, he told me, “it’s too early to declare that either side is going to win the ultimate battle.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2025

Miami and Orlando had two of the largest dockets last year for cases of migrants placed in removal proceedings, with the courts in Florida seeing concentrations of Cubans and Venezuelans.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 12, 2024

It’s their job to stack the bags on the float while Mr. Hannon goes to the office for the delivery dockets.

From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt

Court records show that Trump's appeal has been docketed and assigned a case number.

From Salon ● Oct. 19, 2023

A court clerk showed the indictments to Fulton County District Court Judge Robert McBurney, who briefly reviewed the papers and directed them to be docketed.

From Washington Times ● Aug. 14, 2023

The existence of the Jan. 25 court order preventing the Justice Department from accessing the Pennsylvania Republican’s phone was publicly docketed, but its subject matter remains under seal.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 31, 2023

Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick held a quick teleconference Wednesday before agreeing with Twitter, directing that the public filing be docketed by 5 p.m.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 3, 2022

Everything for the past twenty years docketed and outlined and complete.

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

“Unfortunately, the sample working document led to the docketing of what appeared to be an indictment, but which was, in fact, only a fictitious docket sheet.”

From Washington Times ● Aug. 15, 2023

A calendaring notice filed in the court’s electronic docketing system did not specify charges or whether Chansley had entered a plea deal with prosecutors.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 2, 2021

In New York, uploaded petitions sat, in a digital void, for months on end without docketing.

From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2021

“This approach is compatible with the docketing requirements of the Clean Air Act,” Schiermeyer wrote.

From Washington Post ● May 19, 2020

There are very few of the foreign colony in London whose history I haven't ready for docketing.

From The Weight of the Crown by Fred M. (Fred Merrick) White