Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US, also dock) abbr. of SE doctor.

1843		H.C. Lewis Swamp Doctor’s Adventures in Hudson Humor of the Old Deep South (1936) 81–6: You’ll have to come down a notch lower, doc.
1855		T. Haliburton Nature and Human Nature I 167: I will go and see about dinner for the Doc.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 11/2: This did not suit the ‘Doc,’ as it drove many of his customers away.
1873		J. O’Connor Wanderings of a Vagabond 195: Doc. Slater, as he is nicknamed, was raised in the city of Baltimore, and brought up to the butchering business.
1890		A.C. Gunter Miss Nobody of Nowhere 66: Wal, Doc, what’s the chances?
1894		‘Price Warung’ Tales of the Early Days 149: Udn’t I look a fool now ter report ’Arry ’Ansen sick, an’ then by an’ by th’ doc. comes ’long an’ ses he’s a-shammin’ Abram?
1899		Boy’s Own Paper 15 July 665: All right, Doc, you can trust me with them.
1900		Flynt & Walton Powers That Prey 47: The doc calls it symptoms o’ pneumonia.
1901		Boy’s Own Paper 5 Jan. 216: This is a rum affair. I shall have to tell the Doc.
1902		‘Dads Wayback’ in Sun. Times (Sydney) 29 June 12/1: ‘[T]her young docks, when theys be’in’ broke in, often faints right away, can’t stand ther sight o’ pain an’ blood’.
1910		F.P. Dunne Mr Dooley Says 66: I begun to have a quare sinsation. I haven’t been able to find out what it was. I must ask Dock O’Leary.
1918		‘Sapper’ Human Touch 23: Doc., pass the whisky.
1923		H.C. Witwer Fighting Blood 173: I moved the doc’s hands away from my busted jaw.
1934		J.M. Cain Postman Always Rings Twice (1985) 56: The docs never saw a fracture like it.
1939		V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 111: Thanks, Doc. Sorry to get you out of bed.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 186: The doc told me to take long walks.
1953		W.P. McGivern Big Heat 152: The doc wouldn’t be able to pick that man out of a line.
1965		R.L. Pike Mute Witness (1997) 105: This time he’s dead, Doc.
1979		Fantastic Four Annual 8: All we need ta do is use Doc Doom’s old time machine!
1981		A. Payne ‘You Need Hands’ in Minder [TV script] 9: Here, you couldn’t get the Doc to take that off for a day, could you?
1982		(con. 1948) N. Keesing Lily on the Dustbin 46: ‘And where are you off to at this time of the morning?’ [...] ‘Down to the surgery to see the Doc’.
1993		K. Lette Foetal Attraction (1994) 267: Gee, I don’t know, doc.
2004		J. Ellroy ‘Hot-Prowl Rape-O’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 269: My buddy was a quack herb doc.
2010		J. Ellroy Hilliker Curse 31: The fuzz started cracking down on dope-script docs.
2019		N. Walker Cherry 132: ‘Hey, doc,’ Caves said, ‘check this out.’ He was holding a hand grenade by the pin.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 101: [They] ensconced him with the jail-ward doc.

2. (US) an all-purpose form of address for a man whose real name is unknown.

1869		O. Logan Foot Lights 370: He is talking to a big fellow [...] whom he calls ‘Doctor.’ ‘Well, Doc, I had the poorest show on the road last season [...]’ [HDAS].
1875		Cincinnati Enquirer 4 July 5/1: ‘Doc’ — which is Chinese for Aaron — Torrence got his baggage all ready and started for California [DA].
1905		Sun. Times (Perth) 21 May 4/8: Give us a name, doc.
1910		‘O. Henry’ ‘The Fifth Wheel’ in Strictly Business (1915) 62: ‘Say, doc,’ said he resentfully.
1934		T. Wood Cobbers 41: We’ll start here, doc.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl.
1954		Oh Boy! No. 17 9: Hi Doc!

3. (Aus.) the cook on a shearing station.

1897		Worker (Brisbane) 4 Sept. 8/4: A decent cook he calls his ‘doc,’ and makes of him a god, / A bad one is a ‘poisoner,’ a ‘slushie’ and a ‘sod.’.
1930		Leader-Post (Regina, Saskatchewan) 8 Aug. 29/3: [The cook] is known variously as ‘Cooky,’ ‘The Poisoner,’ ‘The Doc,’ ‘The Babbling Brook’.