doctor - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Proto-Indo-European *-tōr

English doctor

From Middle English doctor, doctour (“an expert, authority on a subject”), from Anglo-Norman doctour, from Latin doctor (“teacher”), from doceō (“to 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”).

doctor (plural doctors)

  1. 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 DO, DPM, MD, DMD, or DDS in the US, or MBBS or BDS in the UK.
    Synonyms: physician; see also Thesaurus:physician
    Hypernym: person
    If you still feel unwell tomorrow, see your doctor.
  2. 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.
  3. A veterinarian; a medical practitioner who treats non-human animals.
  4. A nickname for a person who has special knowledge or talents to manipulate or arrange transactions.
  5. (obsolete) A teacher; one skilled in a profession or a branch of knowledge; a learned man.
    • 1552, Hughe Latymer [_i.e._, Hugh Latimer], Augustine Bernher, compiler, “[The First Sermon]”, in Certayn Godly Sermons, Made uppon the Lords Prayer, […], London: […] John Day, […], published 1562, →OCLC, folio 5, verso:
      So from that tyme forwarde I began to ſmell the word of god, and forſoke the ſchole doctors and ſuch foolries.
    • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
      one of the doctors of Italy, Nicholas Macciavel
  6. (dated) Any mechanical contrivance intended to remedy a difficulty or serve some purpose in an exigency.
    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"
    • 2010, Ramesh Bangia, Dictionary of Information Technology, page 172:
      The use of a disk doctor may be the only way of recovering valuable data following a disk crash.
  7. A fish, the friar skate.
  8. (obsolete) A witchdoctor.
    • 1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 177:
      [T]he material operation is that the doctor would catch a certain species of lizard under particular circumstances at a particular time. He would croon over it the name of the man while gently rattling his ‘devil bones,’ thus calling up the evil spirit that follows these particular charmed bones.
  9. (obsolete, nautical, slang) A ship's cook.
    • 1844, William Robert Wilde, Narrative of a Voyage to Madeira, Teneriffe and Along the Shores of the Mediterranean, page 124:
      […] old Scotch Jem the boatswain, tunes his fiddle, and the doctor, (ship's cook,) produces his tambourine; the men dance on deck, […]
    • 1881, The United Service, volume 5, page 212:
      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.”

See also Types of academic doctor below

types of academic doctor

Descendants

person who has attained a doctorate

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

  1. (transitive) To act as a medical doctor to.
    Her children doctored her back to health.
  2. (intransitive, humorous) To act as a medical doctor.
    • 2017, "Do No Harm", season 8, episode 2 of Adventure Time
      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!
  3. (transitive) To make (someone) into an (academic) doctor; to confer a doctorate upon.
  4. (transitive) To physically alter (medically or surgically) a living being in order to change growth or behavior.
    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.
  5. (transitive) To genetically alter an extant species.
    Mendel's discoveries showed how the evolution of a species may be doctored.
  6. (transitive, figurative) To alter or make obscure, as with the intention to deceive, especially a document.
    To doctor the signature of an instrument with intent to defraud is an example of forgery.
    • 2022 February 15, Edward Helmore, “How a picture came to symbolize the Prince Andrew sexual abuse case”, in The Guardian‎[1], →ISSN:
      That picture – the one that Andrew claimed on BBC’s Newsnight might have been doctored, since he had “no recollection” of then or ever meeting Giuffre at Tramp nightclub in London – will likely serve as both a prequel and postscript of the saga.
    • 2024 March 11, Mark Landler, Lauren Leatherby, “Princess of Wales Apologizes, Saying She Edited Image”, in The New York Times‎[2], →ISSN:
      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.
  7. (transitive) To adulterate, drug, or poison (drink).
    • 1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados:
      There is no doubt that a few months ago Creake deliberately planned to poison her with some weed-killer. […] The gist of it was that she had the strongest suspicion that Creake doctored a bottle of stout which he expected she would drink for her supper when she was alone.
  8. (intransitive, obsolete) To take medicine.

act as a medical doctor to

award the title of doctor to

alter or make obscure, in order to deceive

Borrowed from Spanish doctor, compare native doutor.

doctor m (plural doctores)

  1. alternative form of doutor

Borrowed from Latin doctōrem.

doctor m (plural doctors, feminine doctora, feminine plural doctores)

  1. doctor

Inherited from Spanish doctor (“doctor”).

doctor

  1. doctor

From Middle Dutch doctor, from Latin doctor (“teacher, instructor”).

doctor m (plural doctoren or doctors, diminutive doctortje n)

  1. doctor (person who has attained a doctorate)

Proto-Indo-European *-tōr

Latin doctor

From doceō (“to teach”) + -tor.

doctor m (genitive doctōris, feminine doctrīx or doctorissa); third declension

  1. teacher, instructor
    • c. 99 BCE – 55 BCE, Lucretius, De rerum natura 5.1310–1312:
      […] et validos partim prae se misere leones
      cum doctoribus armatis saevisque magistris
      qui moderarier his possent vinclisque tenere,
      […] and some let out before them strong lions,
      with armed trainers and fierce masters
      to manage them and hold them in restraints,
  2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) catechist, Doctor of the Church

Third-declension noun.

Borrowed terms

Borrowed from Latin doctor (17th c.), via French docteur or German Doktor.

doctor m (plural doctori, feminine equivalent doctoriță or (nonstandard) doctoră or (archaic) doctoreasă)

  1. doctor

Borrowed from Latin doctor, compare native doutor.

doctor m (plural doctores, feminine doctora, feminine plural doctoras)

  1. doctor (Ph.D.)
  2. physician
    Synonym: médico