doctor

[ dok-ter ]

/ ˈdɒk tər /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR doctor ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a person licensed to practice medicine, as a physician, surgeon, dentist, or veterinarian.

a person who has been awarded a doctor's degree: He is a Doctor of Philosophy.

Older Slang. a cook, as at a camp or on a ship.

Machinery. any of various minor mechanical devices, especially one designed to remedy an undesirable characteristic of an automatic process.

Angling. any of several artificial flies, especially the silver doctor.

an eminent scholar and teacher.

verb (used with object)

to give medical treatment to; act as a physician to: He feels he can doctor himself for just a common cold.

to treat (an ailment); apply remedies to: He doctored his cold at home.

to restore to original or working condition; repair; mend: She was able to doctor the chipped vase with a little plastic cement.

to tamper with; falsify: He doctored the birthdate on his passport.

to add a foreign substance to; adulterate: Someone had doctored the drink.

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.

to award a doctorate to: He did his undergraduate work in the U.S. and was doctored at Oxford.

verb (used without object)

to practice medicine.

Older Use. to take medicine; receive medical treatment.

Metallurgy. (of an article being electroplated) to receive plating unevenly.

Nearby words

dockworker, dockyard, doco, docosahexaenoic acid, docosanoic, doctor, doctor faustus, doctor livingstone, i presume?, doctor of philosophy, doctor of the church, doctor's commons

Origin of doctor

1275–1325; Middle English docto(u)r (< Anglo-French) < Latin, equivalent to doc(ēre) to teach + -tor -tor

Related forms

doc·tor·al, doc·to·ri·al

[dok-tawr-ee-uh l, -tohr-] /dɒkˈtɔr i əl, -ˈtoʊr-/, adjectivedoc·tor·al·ly, doc·to·ri·al·ly, adverbdoc·tor·less, adjectivedoc·tor·ship, noun

sub·doc·tor, nounsu·per·doc·tor, nounun·der·doc·tor, nounun·doc·tored, adjective

Can be confused

doctor physician

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for doctor

My doctor insisted that once I filed this piece I lie down on my bed and not get out.
I Tried to Warn You About Sleazy Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2003|Vicky Ward|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
That is a fact recorded by the doctor in charge of the ambulance at the inquest.
Harry’s Daddy, and Diana’s ‘Murder’: Royal Rumors In a New Play|Tom Sykes|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
After what seemed a desperate eternity, a doctor shook his head.
'Please Don't Die!': The Frantic Battle to Save Murdered Cops|Michael Daly|December 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Not long after I was finally diagnosed, my doctor ordered a bone density scan.
You’re Never ‘Cured’ of an Eating Disorder|Carrie Arnold|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST

My doctor put me on oral contraceptives to induce a period, figuring it would help build bone.
You’re Never ‘Cured’ of an Eating Disorder|Carrie Arnold|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
If a man will not pay his store bills you cannot expect him to pay his doctor.
How to Collect a Doctor Bill|Frank P. Davis
Our job is to get the Doctor down here to look at that prize specimen before it moves off to the Deep Hole.
The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle|Hugh Lofting
"I shouldn't think so," said the doctor, as if the point was a minor one.
The Price of Love|Arnold Bennett
Now don't be foolish—stay here with Uncle George and the doctor until you cool down.
Kennedy Square|F. Hopkinson Smith
The Doctor's cot gave a great crack as he started up listening, and I put my face deep in the pillow.
The Virginian|Owen Wister

British Dictionary definitions for doctor

doctor

/ (ˈdɒktə) /

noun

a person licensed to practise medicine

a person who has been awarded a higher academic degree in any field of knowledge

mainly US and Canadian a person licensed to practise dentistry or veterinary medicine

Also called: Doctor 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

angling any of various gaudy artificial flies

informal a person who mends or repairs things

slang a cook on a ship or at a camp

archaic a man, esp a teacher, of learning

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

(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

a cool sea breeze blowing in some countriesthe Cape doctor

go for the doctor Australian slang to make a great effort or move very fast, esp in a horse race

what the doctor ordered something needed or desired

verb

(tr)

to give medical treatment to
to prescribe for (a disease or disorder)

(intr) informal to practise medicinehe doctored in Easter Island for six years

(tr) to repair or mend, esp in a makeshift manner

(tr) to make different in order to deceive, tamper with, falsify, or adulterate

(tr) to adapt for a desired end, effect, etc

(tr) to castrate (a cat, dog, etc)

Derived Forms

doctoral or doctorial (dɒkˈtɔːrɪəl), adjective

Word Origin for doctor

C14: from Latin: teacher, from docēre to teach

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

Medicine definitions for doctor

doctor

[ dŏk′tər ]

n.

A person, especially a physician, dentist, or veterinarian, trained in the healing arts and licensed to practice.

A person who has earned the highest academic degree awarded by a university in a specified discipline.

Idioms and Phrases with doctor

doctor

see just what the doctor ordered.

doctor

noun

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

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RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of doctor

Related forms

Can be confused

Examples from the Web for doctor

British Dictionary definitions for doctor

doctor

noun

verb

Derived Forms

Word Origin for doctor

Medicine definitions for doctor

doctor

n.

Idioms and Phrases with doctor

doctor