in the dock
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
on trial or being questioned
Literally: in a dock, a platform for defendants
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
But bosses at the North Staffordshire Hospital Centre reinstated her, saying: ' No one person can be considered accountable. '
The repercussions for Egypt, indeed for the entire Arab world, will be profound.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “in the dock” mean?
on trial or being questioned Literally: in a dock, a platform for defendants
Is “in the dock” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.