dock a name applied to several plants which belong, like the sorrels which they resemble, to the genus Rumex. Some are edible, notably patience dock, R. patientia, which is thought to have originated in S. Europe and W. Asia and was known as a food plant in classical times. It has been cultivated in some parts of Europe. The name ‘patience dock’ is also applied, in parts of England, to bistort; and it is this other plant which is almost invariably meant when reference is made to the English tradition of eating ‘patience dock’ at Easter. See dock pudding.
