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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

After a brief stay in a corporate dry dock, the pirate ship returned to the high seas.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026

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

That meant the ferry had to spend months in a dry dock, a narrow basin which is drained, leaving the ship out of the water and supported by blocks.

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2025

Uranga said the next step is to lift the boat, which sank after the fire, and tow it to dry dock where a more thorough investigation can be undertaken.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2024

Mom finally put her foot down and insisted it was okay for me to quit, scuttling Stephen Kellner’s dreams of me playing professional soccer before they even made it out of dry dock.

From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram

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

The Chimacum will operate only the #2 sailings on the route’s schedule while the other boat normally assigned the route, the Kaleetan, undergoes necessary dry-dock work, the ferry service said.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 8, 2021

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

Except for the great dry-dock and the naval barracks across the entrance to Hamilton Harbor, all seemed as Nature had intended it.

From The Bachelors A Novel by Orcutt, William Dana