doctor

[ dok-ter ]

noun

1. a person licensed to practice medicine, as a physician, surgeon, dentist, or veterinarian.
2. a person who has been awarded a doctor's degree:

   He is a Doctor of Philosophy.

3. Doctor of the Church.
4. Older Slang. a cook, as at a camp or on a ship.
5. Machinery. any of various minor mechanical devices, especially one designed to remedy an undesirable characteristic of an automatic process.
6. Angling. any of several artificial flies, especially the silver doctor.
7. an eminent scholar and teacher.

verb (used with object)

1. to give medical treatment to; act as a physician to:

   He feels he can doctor himself for just a common cold.

2. to treat (an ailment); apply remedies to:

   He doctored his cold at home.

3. to restore to original or working condition; repair; mend:

   She was able to doctor the chipped vase with a little plastic cement.

4. to tamper with; falsify:

   He doctored the birthdate on his passport.

5. to add a foreign substance to; adulterate:

   Someone had doctored the drink.

6. to revise, alter, or adapt (a photograph, manuscript, etc.) in order to serve a specific purpose or to improve the material:

   to doctor a play.

7. to award a doctorate to:

   He did his undergraduate work in the U.S. and was doctored at Oxford.

verb (used without object)

1. to practice medicine.
2. Older Use. to take medicine; receive medical treatment.
3. Metallurgy. (of an article being electroplated) to receive plating unevenly.

doctor

/ ˈdɒktə; dɒkˈtɔːrɪəl /

noun

1. a person licensed to practise medicine
2. a person who has been awarded a higher academic degree in any field of knowledge
3. a person licensed to practise dentistry or veterinary medicine
4. Also calledDoctor of the Church often capital a title given to any of several of the leading Fathers or theologians in the history of the Christian Church down to the late Middle Ages whose teachings have greatly influenced orthodox Christian thought
5. angling any of various gaudy artificial flies
6. informal.
   a person who mends or repairs things
7. slang.
   a cook on a ship or at a camp
8. archaic.
   a man, esp a teacher, of learning
9. a device used for local repair of electroplated surfaces, consisting of an anode of the plating material embedded in an absorbent material containing the solution
10. (in a paper-making machine) a blade that is set to scrape the roller in order to regulate the thickness of pulp or ink on it
11. a cool sea breeze blowing in some countries

    the Cape doctor

12. go for the doctor slang.
    to make a great effort or move very fast, esp in a horse race
13. what the doctor ordered
    something needed or desired

verb

1. tr
   1. to give medical treatment to
   2. to prescribe for (a disease or disorder)
2. informal.
   intr to practise medicine

   he doctored in Easter Island for six years

3. tr to repair or mend, esp in a makeshift manner
4. tr to make different in order to deceive, tamper with, falsify, or adulterate
5. tr to adapt for a desired end, effect, etc
6. tr to castrate (a cat, dog, etc)

Derived Forms

• ˈdoctoral, adjective

Other Words From

• doctor·al doc·to·ri·al [dok-, tawr, -ee-, uh, l, -, tohr, -], adjective
• doctor·al·ly doc·tori·al·ly adverb
• doctor·less adjective
• doctor·ship noun
• sub·doctor noun
• super·doctor noun
• under·doctor noun
• un·doctored adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of doctor¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English docto(u)r, from Anglo-French, from Latin, from doc(ēre) “to teach” + -tor -tor

Word History and Origins

Origin of doctor¹

C14: from Latin: teacher, from docēre to teach

Idioms and Phrases

see just what the doctor ordered .

Example Sentences

The company faced a lawsuit last year brought by two families who said their now-deceased relatives were denied care by the insurer that was deemed necessary by their doctors.

From Los Angeles Times

And it has even changed what kind of tests doctors run, sometimes opting for more sensitive pregnancy tests using the blood instead of urine.

From Salon

The website highlighted his qualifications as a doctor but failed to mention he was no longer working as a medical doctor.

From BBC

Initially doctors thought she had sunstroke, says Caroline, but an MRI scan revealed it was more serious and she was flown back to the UK by air ambulance.

From BBC

That doctor said Foxx had a brain bleed that had led to a stroke, the comedian said, and his sister continually prayed during his entire operation.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• expert
• physician
• professor
• scientist
• specialist
• surgeon