doctor
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.
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.
to practice medicine.
Older Use. to take medicine; receive medical treatment.
Metallurgy. (of an article being electroplated) to receive plating unevenly.
Origin of doctor
1Other words from doctor
- doc·tor·al, doc·to·ri·al [dok-tawr-ee-uhl, -tohr-], /dɒkˈtɔr i əl, -ˈtoʊr-/, 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
Words that may be confused with doctor
- doctor , physician
Words Nearby doctor
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use doctor in a sentence
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.
A woman in ICE detention says her fallopian tube was removed without her consent | Nicole Narea | September 17, 2020 | VoxSridhar 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.
A very popular example is that it’s virtually impossible to rank a website providing medical advice without an actual doctor writing the articles.
Google ranking factors to change search in 2021: Core Web Vitals, E-A-T, or AMP? | Aleh Barysevich | September 16, 2020 | Search Engine WatchIn 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.
Parsing Trump’s baffling, head-slapping comments on mask-wearing | Philip Bump | September 16, 2020 | Washington PostShe 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.
How the Best Workplaces in Manufacturing have risen to the COVID-19 challenge | lbelanger225 | September 10, 2020 | Fortune
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 | THE DAILY BEASTThat 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 | THE DAILY BEASTAfter 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 | THE DAILY BEASTNot long after I was finally diagnosed, my doctor ordered a bone density scan.
My doctor put me on oral contraceptives to induce a period, figuring it would help build bone.
How little did he divine that the letter of the doctor was called forth by a communication from the countess-dowager.
Elster's Folly | Mrs. Henry WoodHe is what the bill wishes to make for us, a regular root doctor, and will suit the place exactly.
The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun; | VariousYou may imagine the effect this missive produced upon the proud, high-minded doctor of divinity.
Elster's Folly | Mrs. Henry WoodHe became a doctor in two hours, and it only cost him twenty dollars to complete his education.
The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun; | VariousThough, as everybody well knew, the doctor had forbidden her to lift so much as a pin!
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories | Kate Chopin
British Dictionary definitions for doctor
/ (ˈdɒktə) /
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 countries: the 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
(tr)
to give medical treatment to
to prescribe for (a disease or disorder)
(intr) informal to practise medicine: he 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)
Origin of doctor
1Derived forms of doctor
- doctoral or doctorial (dɒkˈtɔːrɪəl), adjective
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
Other Idioms and Phrases with doctor
see just what the doctor ordered.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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