Word definition: doctor

Etimology


From Middle English doctor (“an expert, authority on a subject”), doctour, from Anglo-Norman doctour, from Latin doctor (“teacher”), from doceō (“I teach”). Displaced native Middle English lerare (“doctor, teacher”) (from Middle English leren (“to teach, instruct”) from Old English lǣran, lēran (“to teach, instruct, guide”), compare Old English lārēow (“teacher, master”)). Displaced Old English lǣċe (“doctor, physician”), and doublet of docent.

noun


doctor (plural doctors)

A physician; a member of the medical profession; one who is trained and licensed to heal the sick or injured. The final examination and qualification may award a doctor degree in which case the post-nominal letters are D.O., DPM, M.D., DMD, DDS, in the US or MBBS in the UK.

A person who has attained a doctorate, such as a Ph.D. or Th.D. or one of many other terminal degrees conferred by a college or university.

A veterinarian; a medical practitioner who treats non-human animals.

A nickname for a person who has special knowledge or talents to manipulate or arrange transactions.

(obsolete) A teacher; one skilled in a profession or a branch of knowledge; a learned man.

(dated) Any mechanical contrivance intended to remedy a difficulty or serve some purpose in an exigency.

A fish, the friar skate.

(obsolete, nautical, slang) A ship's cook.

Examples


If you still feel unwell tomorrow, see your doctor.

By medicine life may be prolonged, yet death / Will seize the doctor too.

So from that tyme forwarde I began to ſmell the word of god, and forſoke the ſchole doctors and ſuch foolries.

one of the doctors of Italy, Nicholas Macciavel

the doctor of a calico-printing machine, which is a knife to remove superfluous colouring matter

the doctor, or auxiliary engine, also called "donkey engine"

The use of a disk doctor may be the only way of recovering valuable data following a disk crash.

[…] old Scotch Jem the boatswain, tunes his fiddle, and the doctor, produces his tambourine; the men dance on deck, […]

His galley is small, and, microscopic as it is, it is shared by his brother in misery, the ship's cook, he whom the crew familiarly know as the “Doctor.”

Related words


synonyms

(physician): doc (informal), family doctor, general practitioner, GP (UK), medic, physician, sawbones (slang), surgeon (who undertakes surgery); see also Thesaurus:physician

(veterinarian): vet, veterinarian, veterinary, veterinary surgeon

related terms

doctorate

doctrine

doctrix

verb


doctor (third-person singular simple present doctors, present participle doctoring, simple past and past participle doctored)

(transitive) To act as a medical doctor to.

(intransitive, humorous) To act as a medical doctor.

(transitive) To make (someone) into an (academic) doctor; to confer a doctorate upon.

(transitive) To physically alter (medically or surgically) a living being in order to change growth or behavior.

(transitive) To genetically alter an extant species.

(transitive) To alter or make obscure, as with the intention to deceive, especially a document.

(transitive) To adulterate, drug, or poison (drink).

(intransitive, obsolete) To take medicine.

Examples


Her children doctored her back to health.

Doctor Princess: Put this on. [gives her lab coat to Finn] OK, you're a doctor now. Good luck.

Finn: Wait, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! I don't know how to doctor!

They doctored their apple trees by vigorous pruning, and now the dwarfed trees are easier to pick.

We may legally doctor a pet to reduce its libido.

Mendel's discoveries showed how the evolution of a species may be doctored.

To doctor the signature of an instrument with intent to defraud is an example of forgery.

Catherine, the Princess of Wales, apologized on Monday for doctoring a photo of her with her three children, which was recalled by several news agencies on Sunday after they determined the image had been manipulated.

Data provided by Wiktionary