dry-dock

1 of 2

verb

dry-docked; dry-docking; dry-docks

transitive verb

: to place in a dry dock

dry dock

2 of 2

noun

: a dock that can be kept dry for use during the construction or repairing of ships

Examples of dry-dock in a Sentence

Noun The dry dock is full. The ship is in dry dock.
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
Photo : Liguria Nautica Toppled Over in a Drydock Preparing for routine maintenance work at the Amico & Co dry-dock in Genoa, Italy, in 2019, Nero tipped over on to its port side while the dry-dock chamber was being emptied. Howard Walker, Robb Report, 22 Mar. 2024 Ukraine’s sole Su-24 unit, the 7th Tactical Aviation Brigade, single-handedly has blown up or sunk two Black Sea Fleet landing ships, a corvette, an old training ship and—incredibly—the submarine Rostov-on-Don while the sub was in dry-dock in Crimea. David Axe, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2024 Charter boats were dry-docked or taken to other locations, and land camps were shuttered. Michael Robinson Chavez, Washington Post, 9 Aug. 2023
Noun
According to a report at the time by Italy’s Liguria Nautica website, six crew members suffered minor injuries after a hull support in the dry dock collapsed under the strain of Nero‘s weight. Howard Walker, Robb Report, 22 Mar. 2024 In October 2023, the Carnival Freedom debuted a new iconic winged funnel after returning from a 16-day dry dock refurbishment in Cadiz, Spain. Dave Berman, USA TODAY, 24 Mar. 2024 Three are at sea and one is in dry dock, but the commercial fishing boat The Great Shirley was resupplied and headed out the night before. Tanya Melendez, EW.com, 14 July 2023 In the early hours of Sept. 13, Ukrainian missiles slammed into Russian dry docks in the strategic port of Sevastopol, damaging a Russian submarine and a large landing ship in one of Kyiv’s most significant attacks on Moscow's navy since the war began. Mathias Hammer, Time, 20 Sep. 2023 Ukrainian operations have also targeted Russian airfields and a dry dock in Sevastopol. Kamila Hrabchuk, Washington Post, 25 Sep. 2023 But even that would be difficult, Hendrix told me, because the only two dry docks right now that can repair a Ford Class carrier are halfway around the world from China, in Newport News and nearby Norfolk. Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 31 May 2023 Prior to launch, the ship was translated from land to the floating dry dock using translation railcars to support the ship. Warren Kulo | Wkulo@al.com, al, 15 Aug. 2023 And after taking out several important Russian air-defense systems on Crimea, Ukrainian missiles struck a Russian submarine and a large landing ship at the fleet’s largest dry dock on the occupied peninsula. Marc Santora Laetitia Vancon, New York Times, 26 Sep. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dry-dock.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Verb

1854, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1626, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of dry-dock was in 1626

Dictionary Entries Near dry-dock

Cite this Entry

“Dry-dock.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dry-dock. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.

Kids Definition

dry dock

noun
ˈdrī-ˌdäk
: a dock that can be kept dry during the construction or repair of ships
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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