A dock is the artificially sheltered part, in navigable waters, for the surge or for the comfortable loading and unloading of vessels.

Dock derives from the Arabic: dār aṣ-ṣinā‘ah (from dār, "house" and aṣ-ṣinā‘ah, "the art, the factory"), which means "factory house", originally referring to a dock "Dock (construction)") where boats were manufactured and repaired.[1]​ The term dār aṣṣinā‘ah also gives rise to the words arsenal "Arsenal (armament)") and atarazana.[2]​[3]​.