| 词组 | dock |
| 释义 | dock The distinction between dock and pier or wharf seems to have been first made by Richard Grant White in 1870. His dictum—"to say that he fell off a dock is no better than to say that he fell off a hole"—was memorable enough to be repeated by Ayres 1881 (without attribution) and Vizetelly 1906 (with attribution). The use of dock "pier" was on the Don't List of the New York Herald (before 1918), and the prohibition became part of the lore of the newspaper trade. Bernstein 1962, 1965 cleaves to the newspaper tradition, but Copperud 1964 dissents, calling it "nautical cant." Harper 1975, 1985, Ebbitt and Ebbitt 1982, and Evans 1957 accept the usage. Follett 1966, who holds out with Bernstein, believes the "wharf, pier" sense is landsmen's usage. If Follett is right, it is American landsmen's usage, apparently. The Dictionary of Americanisms gives citations from as early as 1817, while neither the OED nor the OED Supplement recognizes it at all. Longman 1984 labels it North American. In American English it is standard. It is also used attributively quite a bit. • At docks on the Orinoco River, boats will be loaded —My Weekly Reader, 30 Nov. 1951 • If you are a man, I suggest that you treat your inamorata with a gallantry tempered by caution during the voyage out and back, and refrain from proposing until you have caught her on the dock —James Thurber, Thurber Country, 1953 • If and when you do come to America, I hope to have due notice, so that I may be on the dock when your ship comes in —Alexander Woollcott, letter, 1 Aug. 1935 • ... and on a cold, blue, and unusually calm afternoon in February I found myself stepping onto the Cuttyhunk dock —Richard Todd, New England Monthly, December 1987 • ... devoted to the service of seamen, dock workers, and poor people —Current Biography, September 1965 |
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