A protected water area in which vessels are moored.The term is often used to denote a pier or a wharf. A general name for a place to receive ships for repair or cleaning A ship is said to dock herself when placed in a soft tidal bed of mud (she buries herself in it more or less or upon a grid placed for that purpose. A dry dock is a basin into which a ship is floated and the gates closed upon her; the water is then pumped out and the ship left dry, supported on a framework and by shores.