dory
/ˈdɔːɹi/
dory noun: a small flat-bottomed boat with pointed or somewhat pointed ends, used for fishing both offshore and on rivers.
Noun (1)
dory (plural dories)
- A small flat-bottomed boat with pointed or somewhat pointed ends, used for fishing both offshore and on rivers.
- From every schooner, dories were being dropped into the shining, clear water. The sound of voices and the splashes of oars carried across the sea.1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous
- He and Gerald usually challenged the rollers in a sponson canoe when Gerald was there for the weekend; or, when Lansing came down, the two took long swims seaward or cruised about in Gerald's dory, clad in their swimming-suits; and Selwyn's youth became renewed in a manner almost ridiculous […]1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
Noun (2)
dory (plural dories)
- Any of several different families of large-eyed, silvery, deep-bodied, laterally compressed, and roughly discoid marine fish.
- A DIATREE FOR DINNER. […] The ſeconde Courſe. […] Dorye1800, “Copy of an Original Manuscript, Entitled, 'A Breviate Touching the Order and Governmente of a Nobleman's House', &c. Communicated by the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. K.B. P.R.S. and...
- Pan-fried fish. Barramundi, bream, flounder, garfish, John Dory, snapper and Silver Dory are suitable for this recipe.2012, Shirley Cameron, Cooking the Australian Way, 8th edition, South Yarra, Vic.: Macmillan Education Australia, →ISBN, page 265
Adjective
dory (comparative more dory, superlative most dory)
Noun (3)
dory (plural dories or dorata)
- A wooden pike or spear about three metres (ten feet) in length with a flat, leaf-shaped iron spearhead and a bronze butt-spike (called a sauroter), which was the main weapon of hoplites in Ancient Greece. It was usually not thrown but rather thrust at opponents with one hand.
- The basic weapon of the hoplite was the dory, a wooden-shaft spear six to nine feet long with a metal point at each end.1990, Richard A. Gabriel, The Culture of War: Invention and Early Development (Contributions in Military Studies; 96), New York, N.Y.: Greenwood Press, →ISBN, page 89
- The principal offensive weapon of the hoplite was his spear (dory). Conquered territory was said to be 'spear-won'.2000, Nick Sekunda, Greek Hoplite: 480–323 BC (Osprey Military, Warrior Series; 27), Oxford: Osprey Publishing, →ISBN, page 12
Proper noun capitalized: Dory
Dory (countable and uncountable, plural Dorys)
- A diminutive of the female given names Dorothy and Doris.
- A surname.
dory meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Bengali
dory in Hindi
- डॉरी
dory in Tamil
- மீன்பிடி படகு, ஒருவகை மீன்
dory in Marathi
- डॉरी
dory in Bengali
- ডরি
More languagesFewer languages
- dory in Telugu
- డోరీ
- dory in Malayalam
- ഡോറി, ഡൊറി
- dory in Indonesian
- dori
Examples of dory in a sentence
- The dory, and the fisherman who rowed it, are part of the maritime heritage that changed America from a group of shore-bound colonies to a nation with ships that ranged the waters of the world.1960 February, John Gardner, “The Remarkable Dory: This Boat has Served Sailormen Well, and Many of Today's Able Pleasurecraft are Direct...
- A dory, by definition, is a flat-bottomed boat with two pointed (or nearly pointed) ends.2008, Jeanna Rosembalm Bottenberg, The Dory Fleet of Pacific City, Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN, page 41:
- The golden skin of the fish found mostly in the Mediterranean may account for one possible reason why it is called ‘John Dory’, since the French word for yellow is ‘jaune’ and for golden is ‘dorée’.2012, Martin Hannan, Harvey Wallbangers and Tam O’Shanters: A Book of Eponyms – The People Who Inspired the Words We Use Every Day, London...
- The principal weapon of the hoplite was the dory spear.2011 (republished 2014 as an e-book), Chris McNab, A History of the World in 100 Weapons, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, page 37
Forms of dory
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | dories |
| plural | dorata |
| alternative form | doru |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more dory |
| superlative | most dory |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Dorys |
Origin of dory
Attested in American English from 1709 C.E.; possibly derived from an indigenous language of the West Indies or Central America, perhaps Miskito.
From Middle English dorry, from Old French doree, past participle of dorer (“to gild”), from Latin deauratus.
PIE word *dóru Borrowed from Ancient Greek δόρυ (dóru).
Words formed from dory
Phrases with dory
Words that rhyme with dory
9 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about dory
- What does dory mean?
- Dory means a small flat-bottomed boat with pointed or somewhat pointed ends, used for fishing both offshore and on rivers.
- What is dory in Hindi?
- Dory in Hindi is डॉरी. See Dory meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use dory in a sentence?
- The dory, and the fisherman who rowed it, are part of the maritime heritage that changed America from a group of shore-bound colonies to a nation with ships that ranged the waters of the world.
- What part of speech is dory?
- Dory can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce dory?
- Dory is pronounced /ˈdɔːɹi/.
- What is the plural of dory?
- The plural of dory is dories.
Words near dory in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dory (page history and authors); Dory (page history and authors); dory (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dory (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dory (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dory (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dory (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dory (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-dory.ogg.
Cite this entry: “dory.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dory. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.