An artificial receptacle for shipping, in which they can discharge or take in cargo, and refit.
A dry dock is a broad and deep trench, formed on the side of a harbour, or on the banks of a river, and commodiously fitted either to build ships in or to receive them to be repaired or breamed. They have strong flood-gates, to prevent the flux of the tide from entering while the ship is under repair. There are likewise docks where a ship can only be cleaned during the recess of the tide, as she floats again on the return of the flood. Docks of the latter kind are not furnished with the usual flood-gates; but the term is also used for what is more appropriately called a float (which see). Also, in polar parlance, an opening cut out of an ice-floe, into which a ship is warped for security.