doctor

American  

[dok-ter] / ˈdɒk tər /

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.

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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 British  

/ 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 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

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. slang to make a great effort or move very fast, esp in a horse race

13. something needed or desired

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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)

doctor Idioms  

1. see just what the doctor ordered.

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Other Word Forms

• doctoral adjective
• doctorally adverb
• doctorial adjective
• doctorially adverb
• doctorless adjective
• doctorship noun
• subdoctor noun
• superdoctor noun
• underdoctor noun
• undoctored adjective

Etymology

Origin of doctor

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

Example Sentences

Johnson appeared as a sort-of doctor to help the grandfather after he finally collapses to put a nice capper on the basic, but very effective sketch.

From Los Angeles Times

The doctor admits he can "see how it came across".

From BBC

When doctors gave her the news, Charmaine says she felt like her little girl had already been placed in a casket.

From BBC

Telehealth services help bridge the gap for people for whom transportation or mobility is a problem and in rural areas where doctors may be unavailable.

From MarketWatch

They make up nearly half of all doctors in England, and work across the NHS including in A&E and GP surgeries.

From BBC

Related Words

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