dose

[ dohs ]
See synonyms for dose on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a quantity of medicine prescribed to be taken at one time.

  2. a substance, situation, or quantity of anything analogous to medicine, especially of something disagreeable: Failing the exam was a hard dose to swallow.

  1. an amount of sugar added in the production of champagne.

  2. Physics.

    • Also called ab·sorbed dose. the quantity of ionizing radiation absorbed by a unit mass of matter, especially living tissue, measured in grays: although increasingly disfavored, in the U.S. an absorbed dose may still be measured in rads.

  3. Slang. a case of gonorrhea or syphilis.

verb (used with object),dosed, dos·ing.
  1. to administer in or apportion for doses.

  2. to give a dose of medicine to.

  1. to add sugar to (champagne) during production.

verb (used without object),dosed, dos·ing.
  1. to take a dose of medicine.

Origin of dose

1
First recorded in 1590–1600; French , from Late Latin dosis, from Greek dósis “a giving, gift,” derivative of didónai “to give”

Other words from dose

  • doser, noun
  • su·per·dose, noun
  • un·der·dose, noun
  • un·der·dose, verb (used with object), un·der·dosed, un·der·dos·ing.
  • well-dosed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use dose in a sentence

  • Seems as though sometimes I get an overdose of feeling, and an underdose of sense.

    The Lost Wagon | James Arthur Kjelgaard

British Dictionary definitions for dose

dose

/ (dəʊs) /


noun
  1. med a specific quantity of a therapeutic drug or agent taken at any one time or at specified intervals

  2. informal something unpleasant to experience: a dose of influenza

  1. Also called: dosage the total energy of ionizing radiation absorbed by unit mass of material, esp of living tissue; usually measured in grays (SI unit) or rads

  2. Also called: dosage a small amount of syrup added to wine, esp sparkling wine, when the sediment is removed and the bottle is corked

  3. slang a venereal infection, esp gonorrhoea

  4. like a dose of salts very quickly indeed

verb(tr)
  1. to administer a dose or doses to (someone)

  2. med to give (a therapeutic drug or agent) in appropriate quantities

  1. (often foll by up) to give (someone, esp oneself) drugs, medicine, etc, esp in large quantities

  2. to add syrup to (wine) during bottling

Origin of dose

1
C15: from French, from Late Latin dosis, from Greek: a giving, from didonai to give

Derived forms of dose

  • doser, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012