docket meaning (obsolete): definition, etymology and quotations

docket

noun

UK /ˈdɒk.ɪt/ · CA, US /ˈdɑ.kɪt/

Etymology Uncertain; perhaps a diminutive of dock.

Obsolete A summary; a brief digest.

Law A short entry of the proceedings of a court; the register containing them; the office containing the register.

Law A schedule of cases awaiting action in a court.

And I think it’s probably fair to say that all of the more recent cases that are on the interim/emergency/whatever-we-want-to-call-it-these-days dockets, so they’re still in progress.2025 October 16, Ross Douthat, quoting Amy Coney Barrett, “Amy Coney Barrett Is Looking Beyond the Trump Era”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 Oct 2025:

An agenda of things to be done.

A ticket or label fixed to something, showing its contents or directions to its use.

Australia A receipt.

verb

Etymology Uncertain; perhaps a diminutive of dock.

To enter or inscribe in a docket, or list of causes for trial.

To label a parcel, etc.

To make a brief abstract of (a writing) and endorse it on the back of the paper, or to endorse the title or contents on the back of; to summarize.

to docket letters and papers
Whatever letters and papers you keep , docket and tie them up in their respective classes , so that you may instantly have recourse to any oneFebruary 5 1750, Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, in Letters to His Son, published in 1774

To make a brief abstract of and inscribe in a book.