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dose

[dohs]
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noun
  1. a quantity of medicine prescribed to be taken at one time.
  2. a substance, situation, or quantity of anything analogous to medicine, especially of something disagreeable: Failing the exam was a hard dose to swallow.
  3. an amount of sugar added in the production of champagne.
  4. Physics.
    1. Also called absorbed dose.the quantity of ionizing radiation absorbed by a unit mass of matter, especially living tissue: measured in gray or rad.
    2. exposure dose.
  5. Slang. a case of gonorrhea or syphilis.
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verb (used with object), dosed, dos·ing.
  1. to administer in or apportion for doses.
  2. to give a dose of medicine to.
  3. to add sugar to (champagne) during production.
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verb (used without object), dosed, dos·ing.
  1. to take a dose of medicine.
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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. 2018

Examples from the Web for dose

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • 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.

  • We are to be cured by an excess of the dose that has poisoned us.

  • 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
  1. med a specific quantity of a therapeutic drug or agent taken at any one time or at specified intervals
  2. informal something unpleasant to experiencea dose of influenza
  3. 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
  4. Also called: dosage a small amount of syrup added to wine, esp sparkling wine, when the sediment is removed and the bottle is corked
  5. slang a venereal infection, esp gonorrhoea
  6. like a dose of salts very quickly indeed
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verb (tr)
  1. to administer a dose or doses to (someone)
  2. med to give (a therapeutic drug or agent) in appropriate quantities
  3. (often foll by up) to give (someone, esp oneself) drugs, medicine, etc, esp in large quantities
  4. to add syrup to (wine) during bottling
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Derived Formsdoser, noun

Word Origin

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

n.

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.

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v.

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

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
dose in Medicine

dose

(dōs)
n.
  1. A specified quantity of a therapeutic agent, such as a drug, prescribed to be taken at one time or at stated intervals.
  2. The amount of radiation administered as therapy to a given site.
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v.
  1. To give or prescribe something, such as medicine, in specified amounts.
  2. To give someone a dose, as of medicine.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.