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• dry dock
  dry dock

  noun

  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.
• dry-dock
  dry-dock

  verb (used with object)

  to place (a ship) in a dry dock.

dry dock

¹ American  

noun

1. 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.

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dry-dock ² American  

[drahy-dok] / ˈdraɪˌdɒk /

verb (used with object)

1. to place (a ship) in a dry dock.

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verb (used without object)

1. (of a ship) to go into a dry dock.

dry dock British  

noun

1. a basin-like structure that is large enough to admit a ship and that can be pumped dry for work on the ship's bottom

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verb

1. to put (a ship) into a dry dock, or (of a ship) to go into a dry dock

Etymology

Origin of dry dock¹

First recorded in 1620–30

Origin of dry-dock²

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dry dock dry-dock

German investigators trying to establish who sabotaged Nord Stream discovered the Andromeda in dry dock on the island of Rügen.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

The marine logistics group may take about three years instead of four years to deliver a S$198 million vessel, and its new dry dock operation could ramp up faster than anticipated.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026

After more than four decades of delay, the first such submarine, Swiftsure, has had its reactor removed and is currently being taken apart in a dry dock.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2025

California’s coastal salmon industry already is in dry dock.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2025

The boat is in dry dock & the hole is above the waterline.

From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman

The same yard won the contract to carry out the first dry-dock maintenance of HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2019.

From BBC ● May 16, 2022

So we dry-dock them and put them in bins and kiddie pools.

From Slate ● Feb. 19, 2021

No dry-dock scenes of giant starships set to stirring theme music.

From New York Times ● Jan. 23, 2020

Wilson said the boat was put in dry-dock for maintenance every other year, and he did not note any major safety concerns about the Destination.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 7, 2017

At Esquimault are government offices, churches, schools, hotels, stores, a naval "canteen," and a dry-dock 450 feet long, 26 feet deep, and 65 feet wide at its entrance.

From On Canada's Frontier Sketches of History, Sport, and Adventure and of the Indians, Missionaries, Fur-traders, and Newer Settlers of Western Canada by Ralph, Julian