Physicist's tiny opposite old docked wooden boat (9)

I believe the answer is:

antiquark

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'physicist's tiny opposite' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'old docked wooden boat' is the wordplay.
'old' becomes 'antique' (similar in meaning).
'docked' means to remove the last letter (to dock can mean to remove the tail of an animal).
'wooden boat' becomes 'ark' (ark is a kind of boat. I am not sure about the 'wooden' bit.).
'antique' with its last letter taken away is 'antiqu'.
'antiqu'+'ark'='ANTIQUARK'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for antiquark that I've seen is " A tiny bit".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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