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
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use doctor in a sentence
When Simpson’s illness was confirmed by doctors in early 2020, she was said to be in the middle stages of the disease.
New York Court Officials Complete Rare Review of Cases Handled by Judge Forced Into Retirement by Dementia | by Joe Sexton | November 20, 2020 | ProPublicaThen, before returning to play, these athletes should consult with a doctor to see if heart-imaging tests are needed.
Teen athletes with even mild COVID-19 can develop heart problems | Partho Sengupta | November 18, 2020 | Science News For StudentsThis is what happened in the women’s hospitals of the 19th century, when doctors spread puerperal or “childbed” fever from one postpartum woman to another.
After Angevine lost access to oxymorphone, his doctor put him on morphine, but it does not give him the same relief.
Patients struggle to access prescription opioids after New York tax drives away suppliers | lbelanger225 | November 15, 2020 | FortuneFrom this, doctors reasoned that the left brain must manage speech and language.
Kids use more of the brain than adults do to process language | Diane Lincoln | November 13, 2020 | Science News For Students
To help develop it, he hired a doctoral student in philosophy, Larry Sanger, whom he first met in online discussion groups.
Her doctoral thesis, says Ramin Takloo at the University of Illinois, was simply outstanding.
Iranian Math Genius Mirzakhani Unveiled by President Rouhani | IranWire | August 18, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTEven Rachel Maddow, who wrote her doctoral thesis on AIDS reform in prisons, seemed surprised by the seemingly magnanimous move.
I help advise Omer, a twenty-eight year old journalist, in his doctoral studies at Rotterdam University.
I'm wrapping up a doctoral degree in the physical sciences and heading to an industrial job in a few months.
Just before the holidays, too, came from the press my doctoral essay about the Neoplatonists.
Hania | Henryk SienkiewiczExcuse me if I take from under you, for a moment, your doctoral chair, and land you on one of the forms of the primary department.
Seize her, or don't seize her, you will listen to me or I will break your doctoral neck!
The Jealousy of le Barbouill | Jean Baptiste Poquelin de MolireAn old mug may decay, but never flourish; am I not your very mirror, good sir of the doctoral phiz?
The Legend of Ulenspiegel | Charles de CosterA number of French doctoral dissertations by Chinese students deal with Chinese local government.
Government in Republican China | Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger
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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