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
Johnson also wondered aloud whether doctors and medical experts were backing another drug, remdesivir, over hydroxychloroquine because remdesivir sales bring in more money for pharmaceutical companies.
Senate holds hearing on hydroxychloroquine, despite no evidence it works against covid-19 | Marisa Iati | November 20, 2020 | Washington PostEngel-Natzke took all the telephone calls, came up with the questions to ask doctors and recorded every phone call for the family.
Emily Engel-Natzke’s dad was her ‘biggest fan.’ He died of covid-19 before her hockey triumph. | Samantha Pell | November 20, 2020 | Washington PostTake the simple steps that the doctors have talked about today because there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Pfizer and BioNTech will seek regulatory clearance of their coronavirus vaccine | Carolyn Y. Johnson | November 20, 2020 | Washington PostAccording to Hayes, doctors said he was lucky to have not taken his nitroglycerin pills because they could’ve increased the chance of his blood clot moving to his brain, which could cause a stroke or aneurysm.
A high school football coach had a heart attack during a game, but didn’t leave until it was done | Kyle Melnick | November 20, 2020 | Washington PostThe city plans to distribute the vaccine by work setting, not by profession — so anyone who works in a hospital will be on the early list to get a dose, not just nurses and doctors.
D.C.’s coronavirus numbers are rising. Here’s what you need to know. | Julie Zauzmer | November 20, 2020 | Washington Post
Either somebody else painted them start to finish, or somebody else doctored them up.
Klopfer alleged in an interview with RH Reality Check that these anti-abortion groups have doctored his forms.
Indiana’s Crazy Administrative Abortion Demands Have Doctors Racking Up the Violations | Emily Shire | September 18, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThey may have been doctored by someone before they were released.
Remember the doctored photo of a shark swimming in a flooded New Jersey neighborhood after Hurricane Sandy?
Twitter Explodes Over Boston Bombings, but Cooler Voices Urge Restraint | Lauren Ashburn | April 17, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThe video had been doctored to present a black official in the Department of Agriculture, Shirley Sherrod, as an anti-white bigot.
Haydn passed on Lidley's book to him, van Swieten had it translated and doctored to suit his own taste, and Haydn set to work.
Haydn | John F. RuncimanWhen melted and doctored, it is sold for Barbadoes, hepatic, and even Socotrine aloes.
"Well, we'll see," said grandmother, as the carriage stopped at the jeweller's shop where the poor brooches were to be doctored.
Grandmother Dear | Mrs. MolesworthTherefore after becoming established on his American farm he not only tilled the land but he doctored his neighbors.
Christopher and the Clockmakers | Sara Ware BassettThey 'doctored' some rabbit paunches with strychnine cunningly enough, and laid them seductively in the field.
Lives of the Fur Folk | M. D. Haviland
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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