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

/ dɒkˈtɔːrɪəl; ˈdɒktə /

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

Instead, the doctor informed her that he had also removed one of her fallopian tubes and that she could expect to have difficulty conceiving if she wanted to have more children.

From Vox

Sridhar wasn’t at all surprised that Israel just imposed a new lockdown, or that Madrid — where doctors are calling the situation “March in slow motion” — is also resorting to lockdown measures.

From Vox

A very popular example is that it’s virtually impossible to rank a website providing medical advice without an actual doctor writing the articles.

From Search Engine Watch

In other words, the original suggestion that people not wear masks derived at least to some extent from the inability of the government to provide sufficient protective equipment to doctors and nurses.

From Washington Post

She says that her dream of becoming a doctor and helping people wasn’t possible at the time, but now she feels like a doctor and is so proud to be part of helping people.

From Fortune

My doctor insisted that once I filed this piece I lie down on my bed and not get out.

From The Daily Beast

That is a fact recorded by the doctor in charge of the ambulance at the inquest.

From The Daily Beast

After what seemed a desperate eternity, a doctor shook his head.

From The Daily Beast

Not long after I was finally diagnosed, my doctor ordered a bone density scan.

From The Daily Beast

My doctor put me on oral contraceptives to induce a period, figuring it would help build bone.

From The Daily Beast

How little did he divine that the letter of the doctor was called forth by a communication from the countess-dowager.

From Project Gutenberg

He is what the bill wishes to make for us, a regular root doctor, and will suit the place exactly.

From Project Gutenberg

You may imagine the effect this missive produced upon the proud, high-minded doctor of divinity.

From Project Gutenberg

He became a doctor in two hours, and it only cost him twenty dollars to complete his education.

From Project Gutenberg

Though, as everybody well knew, the doctor had forbidden her to lift so much as a pin!

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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