DOCK, in botany, the name applied to the plants constituting a section of the genus Rumex, family Polygonaceae. They are bi ennial or perennial herbs with a stout rootstock, and glabrous linear-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate leaves with a rounded, ob tuse or hollowed base and a more or less wavy or crisped margin. The flowers are arranged in more or less crowded whorls, the whole forming a panicle ; they are generally perfect, with six sepals, six stamens and a three-sided ovary bearing three styles with much-divided stigmas. The fruit is a triangular nut envel oped in the three enlarged leathery inner sepals, one or all of which bear a tubercle. In the common or broad-leaved dock, Rumex obtusifolius, the flower-stem is erect, branching, and 18 in. to 3 ft. high, with large radical leaves, heart-shaped at the base, and more or less blunt ; the other leaves are more pointed, and have shorter stalks. The whorls are many-flowered, close to the stem and mostly leafless. The flowers appear from June to Au gust. In autumn the whole plant may become of a bright red colour. It is a troublesome weed, common by roadsides and in waste places, fields and pastures, where it is often accidentally introduced with clover and grass seeds. The great water dock, R. hydrolapathum, is a tall-growing species. Other British species are R. crispus; R. conglomeratus, the root of which has been em ployed in dyeing; R. sanguineus (bloody dock, or bloodwort) ; R. pulcher (fiddle dock), with fiddle-shaped leaves; R. maritimus. The naturalized species, R. alpinus, or "monk's rhubarb," was early cultivated in Great Britain, and was accounted an excellent remedy for ague.
Some 3o or more species occur in North America, widely dis tributed in the United States and Canada, about one-third of which are naturalized from the Old World. The roots of the canaigre (R. hymenosepalus), native to the south-western United States and Mexico, are used for tanning.
The fleshy, solid part of an animal's tail is also known as "dock" (cf. Icel. docke, stumpy tail; Ger. Docke, bundle, skein). The verb "to dock," especially in reference to horses and dogs, is used of the shortening of an animal's tail by severing one or more of the vertebrae. The English Kennel Club (Rules, 1927) disqualifies from prize-winning dogs whose tails have been docked, with the exception of varieties of terriers, spaniels, etc., and such other breeds as may be determined by the committee.
The prisoners' dock, a railed-in enclosure in which prisoners are placed during trial, is apparently derived from Flem. dok, pen or hutch. It occurs in 1610 as "bail-dock," a room at the Old Bailey left open at the top.