dose

[dohs]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR dose ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a quantity of medicine prescribed to be taken at one time.

a substance, situation, or quantity of anything analogous to medicine, especially of something disagreeable: Failing the exam was a hard dose to swallow.

an amount of sugar added in the production of champagne.

Physics.

Also called absorbed dose.the quantity of ionizing radiation absorbed by a unit mass of matter, especially living tissue: measured in gray or rad.
exposure dose.

Slang. a case of gonorrhea or syphilis.

verb (used with object), dosed, dos·ing.

to administer in or apportion for doses.

to give a dose of medicine to.

to add sugar to (champagne) during production.

verb (used without object), dosed, dos·ing.

to take a dose of medicine.

Origin of dose

1590–1600; earlier dos < Late Latin dosis < Greek dósis a giving

Related formsdos·er, nounsu·per·dose, nounun·der·dose, nounun·der·dose, verb (used with object), un·der·dosed, un·der·dos·ing.well-dosed, adjective

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

Related Words for dose

shot, measurement, application, lot, measure, prescription, quantity, dosage, potion, hit, fix, share, dram, nip, slug, fill, draught, spoonful

Examples from the Web for dose

Contemporary Examples of dose

If laughter is the best medicine, The Comeback made you feel enough pain to need a dose—and then it delivered in spades.
‘The Comeback’ Finale: Give Lisa Kudrow All of the Awards
Kevin Fallon
December 29, 2014
Stop Making Sense is the only current movie that's a dose of happiness from beginning to end.
The Stacks: Pauline Kael's Talking Heads Obsession
Pauline Kael
November 22, 2014
The “gold standard” dose is 30 minutes of 10,000 lux light, one hour of 5,000 lux light or two hours of 2,500 lux light.
Fight Seasonal Affective Disorder With This New Tracker
DailyBurn
November 7, 2014
On Wednesday, anchor Shepard Smith gave Fox News viewers a dose of rationality.
Breakdancing Brad Pitt, Chainsaw Massacre Prank, and More Viral Videos
The Daily Beast Video
October 19, 2014
The story gets out that Obama skipped his usual afternoon dose of caffeine heading toward the U.N. meeting.
Obama, the Coffee Salute, and the Dementia on the Right
Sally Kohn
September 25, 2014

Historical Examples of dose

This cop that found me in a hallway, he says I must have been give a dose of Peter.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
It is not strange that when we have swallowed the dose it does little to effect a cure.
The Conquest of Fear
Basil King
We are to be cured by an excess of the dose that has poisoned us.
A Treatise on Parents and Children
George Bernard Shaw
Let us by all means give them instead a dose of positive philosophy.
The Roof of France
Matilda Betham-Edwards
She could not tell the exact time, because, in spite of her efforts, she had ended by falling into a dose.
L'Assommoir
Emile Zola

British Dictionary definitions for dose

dose

noun

med a specific quantity of a therapeutic drug or agent taken at any one time or at specified intervals

informal something unpleasant to experiencea dose of influenza

Also called: dosage the total energy of ionizing radiation absorbed by unit mass of material, esp of living tissue; usually measured in grays (SI unit) or rads

Also called: dosage a small amount of syrup added to wine, esp sparkling wine, when the sediment is removed and the bottle is corked

slang a venereal infection, esp gonorrhoea

like a dose of salts very quickly indeed

verb (tr)

to administer a dose or doses to (someone)

med to give (a therapeutic drug or agent) in appropriate quantities

(often foll by up) to give (someone, esp oneself) drugs, medicine, etc, esp in large quantities

to add syrup to (wine) during bottling

Derived Formsdoser, noun

Word Origin for dose

C15: from French, from Late Latin dosis, from Greek: a giving, from didonai to give

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

Word Origin and History for dose

c.1600, from Middle French dose (15c.), from Late Latin dosis, from Greek dosis "a portion prescribed," literally "a giving," used by Galen and other Greek physicians to mean an amount of medicine, from stem of didonai "to give" (see date (n.1)). Slang meaning "venereal disease" is from 1914.

1650s, from dose (n.). Related: Dosed; dosing.

dose in Medicine

dose

[dōs]

n.

A specified quantity of a therapeutic agent, such as a drug, prescribed to be taken at one time or at stated intervals.

The amount of radiation administered as therapy to a given site.

v.

To give or prescribe something, such as medicine, in specified amounts.

To give someone a dose, as of medicine.