doctorn.

Brit.

/ˈdɒktə/, U.S.

/ˈdɑktər/

Forms: Middle English docteur, Middle English doktor, Middle English doktour, Middle English dottoure, Middle English dottys (plural, transmission error), Middle English–1500s doctowr, Middle English–1600s doctoure, Middle English–1600s doctur, Middle English–1700s doctour, Middle English– doctor, 1500s– docter (now nonstandard), 1500s–1600s doctore, 1900s– docther (Irish English (northern)); Scottish pre-1700 dochtour, pre-1700 docter, pre-1700 docteur, pre-1700 doctore, pre-1700 doctour, pre-1700 doctowr, pre-1700 doctur, pre-1700 doictur, pre-1700 1700s– doctor, 1900s– doactir, 1900s– doactor. See also Dr n.¹

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French doctor; Latin doctor.

Etymology: < (i) Anglo-Norman doctor, doctur, doctour, Anglo-Norman and Middle French docteur (Old French doctor , doctour , docteur ; French docteur ) teacher, instructor, learned person, scholar, theologian (all 12th cent.), person who holds the highest degree awarded by a university, and hence is entitled to teach (14th cent. in Middle French), physician or medical practitioner (15th cent. in Middle French; 14th cent. in docteur en medecine , also 15th cent. in docteur medecine ); and its etymon (ii) < classical Latin doctor teacher, instructor, in post-classical Latin also teacher of the Jewish law (Vulgate), apostle (2nd or 3rd cent. in Tertullian), catechist (3rd cent.), bishop (4th cent.), preacher (5th cent.), scholar, theologian (6th cent.), medical doctor (7th cent.), person holding the highest degree at a university (frequently from late 13th cent. in British sources; also in continental sources) < doct- , past participial stem of docēre to teach (see docent adj.) + -or -or suffix.With use with reference to the four ‘Latin Doctors’ (see sense 3a) compare post-classical Latin quatuor doctores (14th cent.). With doctor of law (see quot. c1400 at sense 5a) compare post-classical Latin juris doctor , doctor juris (from 14th cent. in British sources), Anglo-Norman doctour de la lei (14th cent.), doctour de ley (15th cent.). With doctor of laws (see quots. 1791 at sense 4a, 1843 at sense 4a) compare post-classical Latin legum doctor (from 14th cent. in British sources), Anglo-Norman doctour des lois (14th cent.), Middle French docteur en lois (15th cent.). With doctor of both laws (i.e. civil and canon: see quot. a1475 at sense 5a) compare post-classical Latin doctor utriusque juris (from 14th cent. in British sources), Anglo-Norman doctur d’ambedeus leis (14th cent.), and also Middle French docteur en lois et en decret (15th cent.).

I. A teacher; a person qualified to teach, and related senses.

†a. A teacher, an instructor; a person who provides instruction in a particular area of knowledge; (also) an exponent or proponent of a particular belief, opinion, or principle. Obsolete.Sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense 2a.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > teaching > teacher > [noun]

larewc900

mastereOE

lorthewc1160

lore-fatherc1175

lerera1340

lister1377

loresman1377

doctora1382

learner1382

teacherc1384

readera1387

lore-mastera1400

former1401

informer?c1422

preceptorc1450

instructora1464

informator1483

doctrinal?1504

lear-father1533

usher1533

instructer1534

trainer1543

educator1609

instituter1670

institutorc1675

subpreceptor1696

Barbe1710

pundit1816

umfundisi1825

preception1882

guru1884

mwalimu1884

rabbi1917

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Isa. xxxiii. 18 Thin herte sweteli shal thenke drede; wher is the lettrid? Wher is the wrdus of the lawe chargende? wher is the doctour of litil childer [L. doctor parvulorum]?

1485 W. Caxton tr. Thystorye & Lyf Charles the Grete sig. aij/1 Saynt Poul doctour of veryte [Fr. docteur de verité] sayth to vs that al thynges that ben reduced by wrytyng, ben wryton to our doctryne.

1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Matt. i. f. 20 The heauenly doctour Christe Jesus [L. coelesti doctore Iesu Christo].

1557 Bible (Whittingham) Matt. xxiii. 10 Be not called Doctors, for ther is but one your Doctor [Gk. καθηγητὴς], and he is Christe.

1665 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 1 73 If this be truth, the Prohibitions of publishing this doctrine..will be laid aside, as one of the most zealous Doctors of the contrary Opinion hath given cause to hope.

1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 32 Do these new doctors of the rights of men assert, that King James the Second..was not to all intents and purposes a lawful king of England?

1864 J. H. Newman Apologia App. 77 St. Augustine..is the doctor of the great and common view that all untruths are lies.

b. spec. (Scottish). An assistant teacher in a school; = school doctor n. 2. Now rare (historical in later use).

ΚΠ

1565 Extracts Rec. in W. Chambers Charters Burgh Peebles (1872) 299 The counsaill ordanis the scuill master to gait ane doictur..to tech vnder him.

1640 in W. Steven Hist. High School Edinb. (1849) ii. 56 For the tryell of the maister and doctors in teatching.

1697 Burnett Family Papers in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Doctour Mr Andrew Milne, doctor at the school of Banchorie.

1793 J. Sinclair Statist. Acct. Scotl. VII. 179 Mr Cunningham..was then rector, and had always a doctor under him.

1985 R. A. Houston Sc. Literacy & Sc. Identity (2002) iii. 99 The employment of the doctor (assistant) from Brechin grammar school as reader at Menmuir in March 1637 was the result of this problem of maintaining continuity.

†2.

a. A person whose learning or skill in a particular branch of knowledge entitles him or her to speak authoritatively on it; an eminently learned person. Obsolete.Sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense 1a.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > scholarly knowledge, erudition > learned person, scholar > [noun] > great

doctora1382

Sorbonist1607

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1965) Job Prol. l. 30 I haue remembred me liddeum a maner doctor þat anentis þe ebruys þe firste was wened..to han hirid.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 12577 (heading) How ihesus disputed wiþ þe doctours.

?1510 T. More tr. G. F. Pico della Mirandola Lyfe I. Picus sig. a.iii He scrupulously sought out all the famous doctours of his tyme.

1578 J. Rolland Seuin Seages Prol. 169 Of ane twme Twn, nane can draw out licour, Nor of ane fule to make a wise doctour.

1733 A. Pope Of Use of Riches 1 Who shall decide, when Doctors dis-agree?

1841 R. W. Emerson Intellect in Ess. 1st Ser. (London ed.) 327 The wisest doctor is gravelled by the inquisitiveness of a child.

b. Any person who possesses a particular talent or skill; an expert. Usually with of. Cf. master n.¹ 16a. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [noun] > skilful person > a master or mistress

masterc1430

mistressc1440

doctor1548

archemaster1570

graduate1582

pass-master1599

possessor1713

past master1840

past mistress1868

passed master1882

ustad1903

maestro1938

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry V f. lxxxii This kyng..in marcial affaires a very doctor.

1602 S. Rowlands Greenes Ghost 18 He indeed was a doctor in his arte [of Cutpurses].

1650 R. Elton Compl. Body Art Mil. To Author sig. †4 Mars doe's himself commense Doctor of War.

3. spec.

a. Usually with capital initial. Any of several early Christian theologians and church fathers regarded as especially authoritative in the Western Church, on whose work much later church doctrine and theology is based. In later use also: any person who has been proclaimed Doctor of the Church by the Roman Catholic Church. See also Doctor of the Church n. at Phrases 1e.

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > aspects of faith > patristics > Fathers of the Church > [noun]

doctorc1390

church father1654

Greek fathers1711

c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. xi. l. 293 Þe douȝtiest doctour..Austyn þe olde & hiȝeste of þe foure.

c1440 Sir Degrevant (Thornton) (1949) l. 1463 (MED) Austyn and gregorius, Jerome and ambrosius, thir are þe foure doctours.

1552 Abp. J. Hamilton Catech. i. vii. f. 19 Autentyk doctours appreuit be y^e auctorite of haly kirk..as Hierome, Ambrose..Chrisostome.

1677 Compend. Narration Lady Mary 13 As soon as possible, after her delivery, she caused the Hymn of those eminent Saints and Doctors St. Ambrose and St. Augustine called te Deum to be said by her.

1888 J. A. Birkhaeuser Hist. Church ii. 153 The greatest luminary among the Oriental Doctors was St. Athanasius, surnamed the Great.

1997 L. J. Elders in Reception Church Fathers in West I. ix. 346 Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory and other Doctors are assigned fields in which they have a special competence.

2019 O. M. Espin Women, Sainthood, & Power ix. 144 Being named as a Doctor implies ‘a seal of approval’ from the Church for this person's teachings.

b. One of the most prominent medieval scholastic theologians and philosophers. Also more fully scholastic doctor.Also as the second element of epithets of particular scholars, as in Angelic (or Angelical) Doctor, Irrefragable Doctor, Seraphic (or Seraphical) Doctor, Subtle (or Subtile) Doctor, etc.: see the first element.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > scholasticism > [noun] > adherent of > collectively

doctora1513

schools1561

a1513 J. Irland Meroure of Wyssdome (1965) II. 106 The doctour subtil [sc. John Duns Scotus] in his buk of the sentens in the prologe inducis viii maner of wais to preif and persuaid the faith.

1671 R. Bohun Disc. Wind 39 The Lord Verulam himself being averse to this Caprice of the Scholastic Doctors, declares the Repercussion of Winds, from the cold of the Middle Region, to be of all other the vainest and most Irrationall Hypothesis.

1774 T. Reid Brief Acct. Aristotle's Logic iv. §6, in Ld. Kames Sketches Hist. Man II. iii. 215 The Scholastic Doctors..tortured..the modal syllogisms.

1855 H. H. Milman Hist. Lat. Christianity VI. xiv. iii. 449 Doctors, who assumed the splendid titles of the Angelical, the Seraphic, the Irrefragable [sc. Aquinas, Bonaventura, Alexander Hales].

1925 Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. 40 237 It is hardly to be expected that the great doctors, Bonaventura and Aquinas, would indulge in the same realistic details as a subdean writing for a purely practical purpose.

2002 Renaissance Q. 55 482 Jerome, Erasmus claims, would have declared his contempt for scholastic doctors who were not interested in combining theology with eloquence.

a. A person who holds the highest degree awarded by a university faculty, graduate school, or other approved academic institution. Now usually: the holder of a postgraduate degree above the level of master; a person who holds a doctorate.Frequently with of specifying the faculty awarding the degree, as e.g. Doctor of Divinity, Doctor of Civil Law, Doctor of Laws, Doctor of (also †in) Medicine, Doctor of Music, etc.

Recorded earliest in Doctor of Decrees n. See also Doctor of Philosophy n. at Phrases 1b.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > educational administration > university administration > taking degree or graduation > [noun] > degree holder

master1380

bachelorc1386

doctorc1400

magister1459

sir1557

Dra1593

doctorate1651

baccalaur1661

baccalaureate1696

formed bachelor1738

middle bachelor1759

Mus.B.1801

PhD1839

diplomate1879

maid1881

Mus. Bac.1889

postdoctoral1962

postdoc1964

B.A.-

B.L.-

c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xv. l. 373 Doctoures of decres and of diuinite Maistres.

a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) ii. sig. F.iii^v You y^t haue bene at learning so long, & are doctor.

1552 T. Wilson Rule of Reason (rev. ed.) sig. Kiij I harde ones a Doctor of Diuinitie, whiche was not so great in knowlege as he was in title.

1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 107 Many Medicasters, pretenders to Physick, buy the degree of Doctor abroad.

1684 London Gaz. No. 1945/4 Dr. Nic. Stagins..was..admitted to the Degree of Doctor of Musick.

1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1765 I. 272 Trinity College, Dublin, at this time surprized Johnson with a spontaneous compliment of the highest academical honours, by creating him Doctor of Laws.

1809 B. Parr London Med. Dict. I. 716/1 The highest medical honours, that is the degree of Doctor in Medicine, shall be conferred on him..as the reward of his diligence and study.

1843 E. Miall in Nonconformist 3 737 To make Prince Albert a doctor of laws.

1846 R. King Covenanters in North ii. 49 The University of Aberdeen withstood the siege of the more enlightened masses; and now at the dawn of a better day, its learned doctors..became the active antagonists of the new light.

1925 tr. J. Čapek in R. Eaton Best Continental Short Stories 1924–5 51 He obtained his doctorate while still very young; and, as soon as he had become a doctor, he immediately married a girl he loved.

1968 New Eng. Jrnl. Med. 15 Feb. 397/2 Langerhans's appearance before the faculty was..to ‘openly defend’ his ‘inaugural dissertation’ for the degree of Doctor of Medicine and Surgery.

1970 Presbyterian Herald Sept. 17 Citation by the Dean of the Faculty of Theology..on presenting John Herbert Withers for the degree of Doctor of Divinity.

2000 N. Henderson Old Friends & Mod. Instances (2001) xvi. 171 The University's Chancellor-elect would be proposing to the University that the Degree of Doctor of Civil Law, honoris causa, be conferred upon you at a special ceremony.

2019 R. Pistol in L. Allwork & R. Pistol Jews, Holocaust, & Public p. viii He sent me away with..a warning to remember that I could not just expect to walk into the viva, answer a few questions and walk out a doctor.

b. As a title prefixed to the surname or full name of a person who has been awarded a doctoral degree. Formerly also: †as a title prefixed to the name of a person without a doctorate who has attained a similar level of academic proficiency (obsolete). Also as a form of address to such a person (now rare).In use as a title now usually written in the abbreviated form Dr (see Dr n.¹).

ΚΠ

1501 in S. Tymms Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmunds (1850) 90 Mast^r Doctor Curteys, the pⁱor of the Fryers Austyns in Norwysche.

1563 G. Hay Confut. Abbote of Crosraguels Masse f. 10 For I ask of you Doctor, that taketh vpon you continual reading and meditation of the Scriptures, where ye do euer find any ordinance of God, set furth, to the which the Spirit of God giueth not a certane name.

1641 Doctours Last Will & Test. (title page) Being a most pleasant Dialogue between Doctor Cousin and a Fellow of his owne Colledge, desiring him to resigne his Mastership.

1785 ‘P. O'Flattery’ Beauties of Mr. Orde's Bill 55 He had..taken pains to trace out the distinction. He had even turned to Doctor Johnson's Dictionary for that purpose.

1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1778 II. 234 [Edwards:] Why Doctor you look stout and hearty.

1818 Gentleman's Mag. May 465/1 Doctor Benjamin Buckler, Fellow of All Souls College, and Custos Archivorum in the University of Oxford.

1895 ‘I. Maclaren’ Days Auld Lang Syne ii. v. 113 Doctor Davidson motioned to the Free Church minister to take his place at the head.

1956 Virginia Mag. Hist. & Biogr. 64 263 The first, to be edited by Doctor Jane Carson and Mr. Francis L. Berkeley, will be especially valuable to those who are interested in economic and commercial history.

2018 O. Yalnazov Precedent & Statute ii. 38 The most recent development of the theory comes from a contribution by Doctor Friedman and Professor Wickelgren.

5. A person who is extremely proficient in any of certain specified branches of knowledge; sometimes indicating that the person holds a doctorate in the subject, but often simply as a title of respect.The first sense in branch II. is another (and the most prominent) example of this sense.

a. A learned authority on the law, esp. canon law or civil (Roman) law; (also) a lawyer qualified to practise civil law (civil law n. 1). Cf. Doctors' Commons n. Now rare.Until 1857, advocates practising in the Court of Arches were required to take the degree of doctor of law (cf. quot. 1588).

ΘΚΠ

society > law > jurisprudence > [noun] > legal knowledge or skill > one learned in the law

legisterc1300

man of lawc1390

doctorc1400

legist?c1425

jurisconsultorc1550

lawyer?1566

Bartolist1602

jurisconsult1605

jurista1626

jurisprudent1628

legalist1771

jurisprudist1793

jurisprudentialist1827

c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xv. l. 238 Þat conscience and cryst hath yknitte faste, Þei vndon it vnworthily, þo doctours of lawe.

a1475 J. Russell Bk. Nurture (Harl. 4011) in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 187 Doctur of bothe lawes, beynge in science digne.

1588 J. Udall State Church of Eng. sig. C3 Why did you not rather take some doctour of the Arches?

1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice iv. i. 143 This letter from Bellario doth commend a young and learned Doctor to our Court.

1724 A. Duck in C. J. de Ferrière & A. Duck Hist. Rom. or Civil Law xxxiv When the Constable and Marshal are otherwise employ'd by the Publick, some Doctor, or other expert Civilian, is appointed to preside in this Court.

1845 M. Pattison in Christian Remembrancer Jan. 82 When the judges and the accused had taken their places, the king, with the gravity of a doctor expounding ecclesiastical law, began [etc.].

1890 R. F. Littledale in E. A. Towle A. H. Mackonochie 304 The majority of the judges always consisted of civilians and doctors who had specially studied canon and civil law.

a1978 J. P. Cooper Land, Men & Beliefs (1983) iii. 48 Upton..cites Bartolus's belief that a doctor who taught civil law for ten years ranked as a knight.

b. A person who is an authority on theology, a theologian; a learned clergyman, esp. one who holds the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > aspects of faith > theology > theologian > [noun] > learned

doctorc1450

cherub1547

worthy1567

agonist1573

c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 232 A clerke..diȝt as a Doctour in drabland wedis.

a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) l. 518 (MED) Dyuers estatys Off doctours and off prelatys.

?1550 J. Bale Apol. agaynste Papyst f. l Y^e best of your doctours in expownynge the Scriptures.

1680 T. Otway Orphan ii. 12 Thanking a surly Doctor for his Sermon.

1752 G. Hamilton Disorders of Church 22 The Doctors amongst the Roman Catholics have been well appris'd of the importance of external forms to keep up in the minds of the people a veneration for their superstitious worship.

1872 J. Morley Voltaire v. 231 He..heard only the humming of the doctors, as they served forth to congregations of poor men hungering for spiritual sustenance the draff of theological superstition.

1911 R. Hughes Excuse Me! x. 85 ‘A reverend doctor?’ the little old lady repeated weakly. ‘Yes—a—a preacher?’.

1963 M. H. Black in S. G. Greenslade Cambr. Hist. Bible III. xii. 447 Eighteen doctors of the Sorbonne gave the text their unadvised approval.

II. A physician or medical practitioner, and related senses.

a. Originally: an authority on medicine; a person who holds the highest class of degree awarded by the faculty of medicine of a university (cf. Doctor of Medicine at sense 4a, Doctor of Physic n. at Phrases 1c); a physician. In later use also: a person who is trained in other branches of medicine or surgery, esp. one holding a formal doctoral degree. Frequently with distinguishing word.The word doctor is less commonly used for medical professionals such as surgeons, veterinary surgeons, and dentists in places where bachelor's degrees are awarded in these fields, as in the United Kingdom.cancer doctor, cow doctor, eye doctor, etc.: see the first element.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > healer > physician > [noun]

physician?c1225

leecherc1374

practiserc1387

doctora1400

flesh-leecha1400

leechman14..

mediciner?a1425

miria1425

M.D.1425

medicine?c1450

practitioner?1543

minister1559

doc1563

artist1565

medicus1570

medicianera1578

Aesculapius1586

Dra1593

pisspot1592

medician1597

physicianer1598

medicinary1599

pisspot1600

velvet-cap1602

healer1611

Galena1616

physiner1616

clyster1621

clyster-pipe1622

hakim1623

medic1625

practicant1630

medico1647

physicker1649

physicster1689

Aesculapian1694

nim-gimmer1699

pill-monger1706

medical man1784

meester1812

medical1823

pill-gilder1824

therapeutist1830

pill1835

pill roller1843

med1851

pill-peddler1855

therapeutic1858

squirt1859

medicine man1866

pill pusher1879

therapist1886

doser1888

internist1894

pill-shooter1911

whitecoat1911

quack1919

vet1925

a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 73 (MED) Þe doctryne of rasis, auicen, & galion, & of oþere doctouris.

?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) (1971) 383 (MED) In the curacioun..of þe lepre, the doctoures proposen communely [etc.].

1561 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1916) XI. 205 To [a] Franche dochtour, for spicis to oppin the Erle of Huntleis bodie.

1602 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor iii. i. 94 Shall I lose my doctor? No, he giues me the motions And the potions.

1652 Mercurius Democritus No. 38. 299 The Doctors Prescribed him to take for his Cure every morning three Spoon-fulls of Nigget-Water.

1700 J. Dryden To my Kinsman J. Driden in Fables 96 So liv'd our Sires, e'er Doctors learn'd to kill.

1725 D. Defoe New Voy. round World i. 200 Our Doctors themselves, so we call the Surgeons at Sea.

1783 Ainsworth's Thes. Linguæ Latinæ (new ed.) ii Veterinarius, a farrier, a horse doctor.

1872 ‘G. Eliot’ Middlemarch I. ii. xv. 252 A common country doctor.

1915 Times 10 Aug. 5/6 I was called away to take charge of a fast small ship that was going to Gallipoli to fetch the wounded, as the regular doctor was ill.

1993 Time Out 31 Mar. 140/4 A crisis looms in the wards when an overworked junior doctor starts dozing off on duty.

2021 MailOnline (Nexis) 19 Feb. Only basic masks are currently being worn by doctors and nurses outside of intensive care.

b. As a title of respect preceding the name of a person who is a physician or doctor of medicine or (esp. U.S. and in later use: see note at sense 6a) any other medical professional, such as a qualified dentist or veterinary surgeon. Also as a form of address to such a person.Frequently with capital initial. In use as a title now usually written in the abbreviated form Dr (see Dr n.¹).

ΚΠ

?1537 T. Elyot Castell of Helthe ii. xxxii. f. 49 Rede the boke of Galene of the preseruation of helth..translated moste truely and eloquentely, oute of Greke into latine, by doctour Linacre, late phisition of moste worthy memory to our soueraygne lorde kynge Henry the eight.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) i. iv. 3 My Master, Master Docter Caius.

1769 I. Bickerstaff & S. Foote Doctor Last in Chariot xi. 17 Skel. How do you sleep, Sir? Ail. Very indifferently, doctor; chiefly broken slumbers.

1819 Northampton Mercury 12 June Doctor Charlotte Von Siebold, the celebrated female accoucheur, employed in delivering her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent.

1876 Vermont Watchman 20 Dec. 1/3 Doctor, I knew when I sent for you that I was very sick and quite unable to cure myself.

1895 Trans. Illinois State Dental Soc. 31st Ann. Meeting 94 Oh, Doctor, I want you to fix my teeth.

1976 E. Taylor Blaming (1992) xvi. 171 But, of course, doctor, you know more about that than I could ever learn in a month of Sundays.

2010 Orange County (Calif.) Register 26 Apr. (Life section) 2/2 Hello, doctor! I was reading the directions for the pills you prescribed.

2016 J. R. Brown Georgia Peaches & Other Forbidden Fruit xxvi. 282 Doctor Klein has prescribed strict bed rest through the end of the year, maybe longer.

c. colloquial. With the, in the genitive. A place or establishment where a doctor may be consulted.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > places for the sick or injured > [noun] > surgery or consulting-room

examining room1775

doctor1808

doctor's office1809

doctor's surgery1842

consulting room1843

surgery1846

operatory1948

1808 Belfast Monthly Mag. Dec. 370/1 A friend who knew his situation, kindly offered to accompany him to the Doctor's, and give him his fee.

1897 Geelong Advertiser 29 May 6/7 At the Hairdresser's. I desire to be shaved... At the Doctor's. Good morning! I am not at all well.

1955 S. Plath Let. 4 Aug. (2017) I. 947 I am on my sweltering way to the doctor's to have both arms and a leg (perhaps) punctured for the second time.

2021 Sun (Nexis) 2 July I went to the doctor's and got put on antidepressants.

d. A traditional healer and diviner, esp. one who claims to guard against or cure afflictions thought to be caused by spirit possession or witchcraft.Also as the second element of compounds, as in conjure doctor n., rain doctor n., root doctor n., spirit doctor n., etc. Cf. also witch doctor n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > healer > alternative practitioner > [noun] > using magic

ophiogenes1601

piai1613

witch doctor1718

dukun1817

piaiman1825

wizard1845

doctor1846

mganga1860

1846 H. E. A. Meyer Manners & Customs Aborigines Encounter Bay 9 The doctor sits in front of the patient with two sticks, one in each hand, beating the air.

1851 H. R. Schoolcraft Hist. & Statist. Information Indian Tribes U.S. I. xiv. 310 As the doctor sings several songs, he watches closely the patient, and finds out which song pleased.

1858 Compend. Kaffir Laws & Customs 123 Doctors are not entitled to fees, except a cure is performed, or the patient relieved.

1902 C. Lumholtz Unknown Mexico I. xvii. 311 He keeps his doctor busy curing him, not only to make his body strong to resist illness, but chiefly to ward off sorcery.

2008 R. W. Walker in W. T. Allison & S. J. Matt Dreams, Myths, & Reality xii. 260 The shaman entered into a trance. It was thought that the doctor's soul might thereby track the fugitive spirit.

e. Chiefly North American. (The name of) a children's game in which the participants pretend to be doctors and patients and act out imagined medical scenarios; esp. such a game involving the participants exposing their genitals; hence in allusive use with reference to sexual role play between adults. Cf. doctors and nurses at Phrases 4.In quot. 1866, and some other uses with play, ‘doctor’ appears to refer to the role played rather than standing as a name for the game itself; cf. play v. 13d.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > children's game > other children's games > [noun]

rosy apple1882

doctors and nurses (also patients)1906

doctor1918

knock down ginger1959

rat-a-tat ginger1959

riprap1959

rat-tat ginger1962

1866 Brooklyn Daily Eagle 11 June (advt.) This splendid gift plate is entitled Children Playing Doctor, as it vividly depicts the sports of juveniles..trying to simulate the actions of the invalid, the apothecary and the physician.]

1918 J. J. Putnam & M. Stevens tr. H. von Hug-Hellmuth in Psychoanalytic Rev. 5 216 The pronounced sexual note of the favorite game of ‘Doctor’, together with the erotic tinge..of early friendships between children, explain adequately the entrance of the memory-picture into consciousness.

1984 Wisconsin State Jrnl. 18 Mar. viii. 3/5 [Students] were told to write about their memories of sex games, from prepubescent curiosity games, (‘doctor’ or ‘show me’) to junior high school party games.

2003 Mirror (Nexis) 17 May 26 She took him to a rented apartment where they were joined by two other girls, dressed up as nurses for a game of doctor.

7. figurative. Applied to things believed to improve or preserve physical health.

a. Chiefly colloquial. Used of anything considered beneficial for a person's health or conducive to recovery from illness or injury. Often humorously prefixed to a noun as if it were a person's surname (cf. sense 6b).

ΚΠ

1558 W. Bullein Govt. Healthe f. li I should not staye my selfe vpon the opinion of any one phisicion, but rather vpon three... The first was called doctor diet, the seconde doctor quiet, the thirde doctor mery man.

1650 tr. Joannes de Mediolano Regimen Sanitatis Salerni (new ed.) 3 When Physick needs, let these thy Doctours be, Good dyet, quiet thoughts, heart mirthfull free.

1890 Deseret Weekly (Salt Lake City, Utah Territory) 22 Feb. 1/2 Oh! come Doctor Sunshine! We need something bright; Come, nature's grand cure-all, and set us all right.

1986 Yoga Jrnl. Mar.–Apr. 39/2 Nature, to the Taoist, is a reservoir of healing ch'i... The natural world itself is a great doctor.

2002 Financial Times 23 Nov. 42/6 Time is the best doctor.

b. A wind that blows regularly in a particular location and is considered to have health-giving, refreshing, or cleansing properties, spec. (a) (in the West Indies and Western Australia) a cool sea breeze which blows on hot summer days; (b) (in South Africa) a strong, blustery south-east wind prevailing in the vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope.Frequently with a modifying word or place name, forming the name of a particular wind of this type, as in Cape doctor n., Albany doctor, Fremantle doctor, Southerly doctor, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > [noun] > good health > state of being conducive to > that which is conducive to

virtuea1393

quarta1400

non-natural1696

doctor1740

the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wind > [noun] > wind with reference to direction > wind blowing from the sea > in the tropics

doctor1740

1740 Hist. Jamaica ii. 21 The People here give it [sc. the sea-breeze] the name of Doctor, and truly it deserves the Title.

1844 Knickerbocker 23 46 [In St Augustine, Florida] we were beginning the summer custom of gathering every morning to meet the ‘doctor’ (sea-breeze) on the square.

1856 F. Fleming Southern Afr. iv. 62 The South-easter, from blowing all pestilent vapours and effluvia out to sea..has obtained the local epithet of ‘the Doctor’.

1946 D. C. Peattie Road of Naturalist (U.K. ed.) ii. 28 That early breeze, sweet and cool, bestirs the heavy drowse like the trade wind in the tropics, that they call ‘the doctor’.

1992 D. Birkett Jella: Woman at Sea ii. 30 The wind evaporated the moisture and brought the temperature down with such beneficient effects that it was nicknamed ‘the Doctor’.

2015 C. Ace Corpse with Sapphire Eyes ii. 10 Christmas Day this year it was over thirty degrees in the morning—we couldn't wait for the Fremantle Doctor to blow in.

c. An alcoholic drink taken for its medicinal, invigorating, or restorative properties, esp. rum and milk taken as a pick-me-up or to cure a hangover. Also: a drink of this. Now rare.

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1820 National Advocate (N.Y.) 25 Dec. Doctor, rum and milk, diffusible and permanent stimuli.

1824 Spirit of Public Jrnls. for 1823 55 The Daffy bottles were recruited for the march, and each horseman gulped down a doctor, to counteract the effects of the raw morning air.

1861 Hills & Plains I. iii. 37 ‘I feel rather seedy still, indeed.’.. ‘Have one of my “doctors” now; it will do you no end of good.’

1895 G. Chamier South-Sea Siren 206 Let's have a doctor. Joe! Fetch that rum and milk.

1965 Country Life 14 Oct. 951/3 This is better than what is called a ‘doctor’ (rum and milk) because you then dispense with taking spirit in the morning.

†8. slang. A false or loaded die. to put the doctor upon (a person): to cheat (a person) using false or loaded dice; (hence sometimes more generally) to trick or dupe (a person). Obsolete (historical in later use).

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > dice-playing > [noun] > die or dice > false or loaded

stop-dice1540

bar1545

flat1545

gourd1545

barred dicec1555

bristle-dicec1555

fulhamc1555

graviersc1555

high manc1555

langretc1555

low manc1555

cheat1567

dice of vantage?1577

demy1591

forger1591

squarier1592

tallmen?1592

stop cater trey1605

demi-bar1606

downhill1664

high runner1670

low runner1670

doctor1688

tat1688

uphill1699

cut1711

loaded dice1771

dispatcher1798

dispatch1819

miss-out1928

1688 T. Shadwell Squire of Alsatia i. i. 6 Hack... Pox o' the Tatts for me: I believe they put the Doctor upon me. Belf. Sen. Tatts, and Doctor! what's that? Sham. The Tools of Sharpers, false Dice.

1697 C. Cibber Womans Wit i. 8 The old Rogue..wou'd ha' put the Doctor upon me..(unknown to him) I flung away the Doctor, and clapt into the Box a Pair of True Mathematicks.

1699 T. Brown tr. Erasmus Seven New Colloquies v. 56 But did not this Physician put the Doctor upon you, as the saying is? Do you think this Account he gave of himself was true?

1722 Freeholder's Jrnl. 28 Sept. 230/1 And whether Jack Pudding did not put the Doctor upon a certain Person, when he cry'd out, Z——ds, l am catch'd?

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones III. viii. xii. 260 Here are the Implements; here are the little Doctors which cure the Distempers of the Purse.

1801 Sporting Mag. 18 7 Loaded a couple of the Doctors for throwing a seven and nine.

1899 Pall Mall Mag. May 25 ‘I have my “doctors” here...’ With an attempt at laughter he pulled out the dice he had used so lately.

†9. slang. Any of various substances used to ‘doctor’, improve, or adulterate food or drink, esp. in order to pass it off as a superior product; a drink which has been adulterated in this way. Also: (a name for) brown sherry. Obsolete. [Apparently applied to brown sherry with allusion to the fact that it was formerly made by adding a dark grape spirit to an inexpensive base wine to improve its flavour and increase its alcohol content.]

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > substances for food preparation > [noun] > improver or adulterant

doctor1770

stuff1812

improver1835

rough1855

agene1921

the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > wine > fortified wine, Madeira wine, and sack > [noun] > sherry > types of sherry

doctor1770

antimonial wine1771

Montilla1793

Paxarete1802

pale sherry1803

amontillado1804

golden sherry1830

manzanilla1843

fino1846

Bristol milk1848

brown sherry1849

solera1851

amoroso1859

brown1862

oloroso1876

Bristol cream1886

Tio Pepe1886

cream sherry1964

1770 C. Jenner Placid Man I. 84 The governor was as happy if he drank his Doctor next to a man who talked to him upon any thing.

1779 W. A. Smyth Publican's Guide 19 Reduce it again, and make use of the doctor. [Footnote] A chymical preparation, known also by the name of false-proof; which, by raising a bead, gives liquors an appearance of strength, that in reality they have not.

1824 J. Maton & J. Garrett Tricks of Bakers Unmasked 5/1 The Doctor, is what is vulgarly styled alum..the same quantity of alum is not always worked in a given proportion of flour, it varying according to the age and quality of the mixture for the manufacture of bread.

1863 T. G. Shaw Wine, Vine & Cellar iv. 136 Large quantities of this product [sc. fermented must reduced by boiling]..are used to colour and cover the harsh thinness of poor qualities. It is for this reason that it is called the Doctor.

1889 A. Barrère & C. G. Leland Dict. Slang I. 315/1 To ‘keep the doctor’ is said of a publican who retails adulterated drinks.

10. Any of various tropical marine fishes which comprise the genus Acanthurus (family Acanthuridae) and have a sharp pointed spine on either side of the base of the tail, esp. A. chirurgus; = doctor fish n. (a) at Compounds 3.Also called surgeonfish, tang.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > [noun] > suborder Acanthuroidei > member of family Acanthuridae (surgeon-fish)

tang1735

doctor1775

unicorn acanthurus1803

lancet-fish1840

surgeon1855

surgeonfish1871

shoemaker1891

medico1902

1775 J. Rymer Sentiments on Reviewers ii, in Descr. Island of Nevis 41 Our steward dropt his fish-pots last night; they were hauled up this morning, and found to contain, doctors, old-wives, coblers, welsh-men, yellow bellies, balla hoos, parrot fish, and balloch-biters.

1844 C. Knight Pict. Museum Animated Nature II. 143/2 There is a group of fishes commonly termed ‘doctors’, in consequence of being provided with two very sharp and movable spines, like lancets.

1992 P. Constant Marine Life Galapagos ii. 39 Surgeonfishes (Acanthuridae). Get their name from scalpel like spines, located on each side of the caudal peduncle. They are also known as ‘doctors’ or ‘tang’.

11. Any of various fittings, devices, or substances used in industrial processes, typically to provide some kind of corrective or regulatory treatment or function.

a. In machines used in various printing processes, papermaking, etc.: a knife, blade, scraper, or other component used to remove superfluous colour, fibre, etc., from a cylinder or other part of the machine. Often as a modifier, in doctor blade, doctor knife, etc.colour doctor, lint-doctor, etc.: see the first element.

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1796 A. Wilde & J. Ridge Brit. Patent 2134 (1856) 1 Manufacturing..steel doctors for printers.

1837 N. Whittock et al. Compl. Bk. Trades (1842) 96 The polished surface is cleared by the scraper called the ‘doctor’.

1866 Illustr. & Descriptive Catal. Dublin Internat. Exhib. 1865 202/2 The roller is capable of adjustment in a lateral, and the breast beam, together with the doctor knife, in a vertical direction.

1940 U.S. Patent 2,185,859 1/2 The action is facilitated by supplying a controlled excess of the liquid suspension to the transfer surface and then removing the excess by means of a doctor.

1995 J. A. Hill et al. in Pigment Printing Handbk (Amer. Assoc. Textile Chemists & Colorists) ii. ii. 21 A metal doctor blade is used for removing excess print paste adhering to the surface of the roller.

2012 S. Kuwabara U.S. Patent Applic. Publ. 2012/0241203 1/1 In fig. 13, ‘12’ represents a doctor for scraping off excess catalyst ink.

†b. A heated soldering iron or bit used in applying a thin coating of silver, gold, etc., to an object. Obsolete.

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1833 J. Holland Treat. Manuf. Metal II. 316 A heated doctor, or soldering bit.

1893 Saddlery & Harness June 233/2 After this process of soldering (or rubbing the doctor all over the buckle), it is passed on to the rubber-in or tester.

c. Chiefly U.S. More fully doctor engine. A small or auxiliary steam engine, esp. one for supplying water to a steamboat's boiler; a donkey engine. Now historical.

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1849 Madison (Indiana) Weekly Courier 18 Apr. They put doctor engines in steamboats to make them run faster.

1875 ‘M. Twain’ Old Times Mississippi vii, in Atlantic Monthly Aug. 191/1 The engineers drowsed around and allowed chips to get into the ‘doctor’ and shut off the water supply from the boilers.

2018 S. T. Bisbee Engines of Rebellion i. 24 Doctor engines were equipped with at least one feedwater heater that used recirculated steam.

d. A pad, sponge, or the like used in electroplating to apply a solution of metal to the piece to be plated. Now rare.

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1886 A. Watt Electro-deposition xiv. 184 The pad, or ‘doctor’, as it is sometimes called, is dipped in the gold solution and applied to the part to be gilt.

1946 S. Field & A. D. Weill Electro-plating (ed. 5) xiii. 250 The solution in the ‘doctor’ can be replenished from time to time, and the defective area thus corrected.

e. More fully doctor solution. Any of various liquids applied in industrial processes; esp. (in electroplating) a solution of metal applied to the piece to be plated (cf. sense 11d).

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1911 Inland Printer May 264/1 In England it is customary for the photoengraver..to gum up the print well and then treat it with what they call a ‘doctor’. This doctor is a syrupy solution made of turpentine with as much beeswax added as it will soak up.

1948 Electroplating Sept. 561/2 5-6 seconds immersion of doctor is ample to secure a beautiful clean colour.

2004 R. E. Painter Troubleshooting Zinc Electroplating Baths 1 Feb. in pfonline.com (accessed 7 Sept. 2021) Is your bath low on carrier, high in brightener, out of balance, etc? Many suppliers have ‘doctor’ solutions.

12. slang (originally Nautical). Originally: a ship's cook. In later use also: a person employed to cook for gangs of outdoor workers, esp. (Australian and New Zealand) at a cattle or sheep station or (U.S.) a logging camp. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > cooking > cook > [noun] > ship's cook

cook1466

sea-cook1707

doctor1803

slushy1859

potwalloper1890

society > travel > travel by water > one who travels by water or sea > sailor > sailors involved in specific duties or activities > [noun] > ship's cooks and assistants

shifter1704

sea-cook1707

doctor1803

slushy1859

cook's mate1865

potwalloper1890

1803 J. Davis Trav. U.S.A. 430 Mr. Adams.—The steward and the doctor are quarrelling... Black-cook.—Who you call doctor?

1868 C. W. Browne Overlanding in Austral. v. 71 A good cook, or ‘doctor’, as he is called, is a necessary individual in camp.

1872 W. H. Thomes Whaleman's Adventures iv. 62 About that time the doctor was called to start a fire in his galley.

1893 I. K. Funk et al. Standard Dict. Eng. Lang. I Doctor..6. (Local, U.S.) The cook in a logging-camp.

1910 S. E. White Rules of Game xii. 70 ‘Where's the drive, doctor?’ asked the lumberman. ‘This is the jam camp,’ replied the cook.

1953 ‘Main Royal’ Not in Log 129 There was no sign of ‘the doctor’, as a sailing-ship's cook is usually called.

13. colloquial. A person who is employed or may be engaged to give specialist advice or help. Chiefly as the second element of compounds, forming nouns with the sense ‘a person who repairs, maintains, advises on, or improves the thing specified in the first element’, as bike doctor, car doctor, golf doctor, etc.play-doctor, saw-doctor, script doctor, spin doctor: see the first element.

ΚΠ

1857 S. Smiles Life George Stephenson vi. 44 Stephenson's skill as an engine-doctor soon became noised abroad, and he was called upon to prescribe remedies for all the old, wheezy, and ineffective pumping-machines in the neighbourhood.

1899 Daily News 2 Mar. 9/1 Shipping ‘Doctors’..The owner, nervous about a vessel, wants a further insurance, and the ‘doctor’ procures it for him... The ‘doctor’ is a broker who deals particularly with the overdue vessels.

1933 Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, New S. Wales) 4 July (6/4 advt.) That cycle you want for the season can do with an overhaul—bring it to Bob John, the Bike Doctor.

1957 Country Life 7 Feb. 244/1 I never had much opinion of myself as even the most amateurish golf doctor.

2003 Maximum PC June 24/3 We end our primer with a FAQ that addresses the videocard-related questions most often received by our resident PC doctor.

2013 L. Freedman Encycl. Stock Car Racing ii. 701 His car had been prepared by the superior mechanic Red Vogt, the finest early-days car doctor around.

14. Angling. A type of artificial fishing fly.Chiefly with modifying word specifying the predominant colour of the fly, as in blue doctor, silver doctor n., black doctor n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > means of attracting fish > [noun] > artificial fly > types of

moor flylOE

drake-flya1450

dub-flya1450

dun cut1496

dun fly1496

louper1496

red fly1616

moorish fly1635

palmer1653

palmer fly1653

red hackle1653

red palmer1653

shell-fly1653

orange fly1662

blackfly1669

dun1676

dun hackle1676

hackle1676

mayfly1676

peacock fly1676

thorn-tree fly1676

turkey-fly1676

violet-fly1676

whirling dun1676

badger fly1681

greenfly1686

moorish brown1689

prime dun1696

sandfly1700

grey midge1724

whirling blue1747

dun drake?1758

death drake1766

hackle fly1786

badger1787

blue1787

brown-fly1787

camel-brown1787

spinner1787

midge1799

night-fly1799

thorn-fly1799

turkey1799

withy-fly1799

grayling fly1811

sun fly1820

cock-a-bondy1835

brown moth1837

bunting-lark fly1837

governor1837

water-hen hackle1837

Waterloo fly1837

coachman1839

soldier palmer1839

blue jay1843

red tag1850

canary1855

white-tip1856

spider1857

bumble1859

doctor1860

ibis1863

Jock Scott1866

eagle1867

highlander1867

jay1867

John Scott1867

judge1867

parson1867

priest1867

snow-fly1867

Jack Scott1874

Alexandra1875

silver doctor1875

Alexandra fly1882

grackle1894

grizzly queen1894

heckle-fly1897

Zulu1898

thunder and lightning1910

streamer1919

Devon1924

peacock1950

1860 C. M. Yonge Hopes & Fears in Constit. Press Feb. 352 Lucilla..was soon eloquent on the merits of the doctor, the butcher, the duchess, and all her other radiant fabrications of gold pheasant's feathers, parrot plumes, jay's wings, and the like.

1895 Daily News 22 Aug. 6/2 With fine tackle and a very small Blue Doctor.

1935 North Devon Jrnl. 31 Mar. 6/3 On a rising water the ‘doctor’ fly should be called in.

1947 Sports Afield Jan. 18/3 Will we try 'im on a Doctor or a Jock Scott?

2010 M. D. Radencich 20 Salmon Flies vi. 99 The Silver Wilkinson..falls into a subclass of silver-bodied salmon flies that includes the Helmsdale Doctor, Silver Doctor, and Blue Doctor.

Phrases

P1. Noun phrases with of.

Doctor of Decrees n. a person who holds a higher degree in canon law; a Doctor of Canon Law (now historical). [Compare post-classical Latin doctor decretorum (14th cent. in a British source; also in continental sources), also doctor in decretis (14th cent. in British and continental sources), Anglo-Norman doctour de decrees (14th cent.), Middle French docteur en decret (15th cent.).]

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c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xv. l. 373 Doctoures of decres and of diuinite Maistres.

?1585 W. Phiston tr. S. de Voyon Testimonie True Church of God 112 Thirdly, the doctors of decrees and decretals.

1691 A. Wood Athenæ Oxonienses I. 548 Tho. Langton Doctor of Decrees succeeded him, as I shall anon tell you.

1888 Scot. Rev. 11 404 In the oldest Faculties—those of Law—we have the degrees of Doctor of Laws in the Faculty of the Civil Law, and Doctor of Decrees in the Faculty of the Canon Law.

1914 Aberdeen Jrnl. 29 July 5/1 He had studied in Paris and there taken the degree of Doctor of Decrees.

2013 P. Heath Eng. Parish Clergy iv. 54 One who probably saw little of his parishioners was Thomas Martyn, Doctor of Decrees, in 1510 official of the archdeacon of Salisbury.

Doctor of Philosophy n. (also with lower-case initials) a person who has been awarded the highest class of degree for original academic research, now typically involving three or more years of postgraduate study at a university or other academic institution culminating in the writing of a dissertation or thesis, which is defended before experts in the field; (also) a degree qualification or course of this type, a doctorate. Often abbreviated as PhD n. or (less commonly) D.Phil.In the medieval universities of continental Europe, the title given to holders of the highest degree in the Faculty of Arts was Magister Artium (Master of Arts), while holders of the highest degree in the other faculties (Theology, Medicine, and Law) were styled Doctor. This inconsistency was addressed in the mid 17th cent. with the introduction of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Philosophiae Doctor) in place of Magister Artium in German universities (in which the Faculty of Arts was known as the philosophische Fakultät); like other doctoral degrees at this time, it was awarded for advanced scholarship rather than original research. By the early 19th cent. the Faculty of Philosophy in German universities had come to house all subjects now commonly known as sciences and humanities, and began to demand original contributions to research, attested by a dissertation, for the award of Doctor of Philosophy (or PhD) in any of these fields. The research-based PhD on the German model was subsequently adopted in various parts of the English-speaking world: the degree was first awarded in the United States by Yale University in 1861 and was adopted by U.K. universities in 1917. [Compare post-classical Latin doctor philosophiae (16th cent., as an equivalent term to magister).]

ΚΠ

1651 T. Fuller et al. Abel Redevivus 236 He was in this University [sc. Heidelberg] advanced unto the degree of Master of Arts or Doctor of Philosophy in the yeer 1513.

1732 London Evening-Post 23–25 May The great Hall of Hercules being magnificently hung and adorn'd on Purpose, she [sc. Italian physicist Laura Bassi] was promoted to the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with the usual Formalities.

1861 Trumansburg (N.Y.) News 2 Aug. At the commencement of Yale College, New Haven, July 25th, the degree of Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) was conferred on three graduates only.

1949 Gen. Reg. (Univ. Michigan) ix. 194 They must pass the same qualifying examination as applicants for the Doctor of Philosophy in History.

2021 @Clare_Brock 28 Aug. in twitter.com (accessed 1 Sept. 2021) I'm not a medical doctor, I'm a doctor of philosophy.

Doctor of Physic n. (also with lower-case initials) now historical a person who holds the highest class of degree awarded by the faculty of medicine of a university; = Doctor of Medicine at sense 4a.

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c1405 (c1387–95) G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 413 With vs ther was a Doctour of Phisyk.

1421 Petition in Rotuli Parl. (1767–77) IV. 158/1 That no man..practyse in Fisyk..but he be Bacheler or Doctour of Fisyk, havynge Lettres testimonyalx sufficeantz of on of those degrees of the Universite.

1547 A. Borde Breuiary of Helthe ii. f. xxiii^v I do saye that an vrine is a strumpet, or an harlot, for it wyll lye & the best doctor of phisicke of them all: maye be deceiued in an vrine.

1627 Articles enquired Diocesse of Carlile sig. B3 What Physician or Chyrurgion is in your parish vnlicensed, and beeing not a Doctor of Physicke in either of the Vniuersities, doth practise physike?

1849 T. Carlyle Reminisc. Irish Journey (1882) 44 An aged, rather vain, and not very deep-looking doctor of physic..came personally to ‘drive me out’.

2009 I. Mortimer Dying & Doctors (2015) 205 In the past this would be characterised as the rich employing doctors of physic and the less well-off employing ‘quacks’.

† Doctor of the Chair n. (also with lower-case initials) Obsolete a professor; the holder of a university chair in a specified faculty or subject. Cf. chair n.¹ 6b.

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society > education > teaching > teacher > university or college teacher > [noun] > professor

professorc1400

Doctor of the Chair1528

professoress1744

associate professor1812

adjoint professor1828

full professor1852

1528 J. Skelton Honorificatissimo: Replycacion agaynst Yong Scolers sig. A.ii. They tumble so in Theology Drowned in dregges of Diuinite That they iuge them selfe able to be Doctours of the Chayre in the Vyntre.

a1635 T. Randolph Muses Looking-glasse ii. iv. 37 in Poems (1638) Thou shalt be Doctor o' th' chaire.

1659 J. Rushworth Hist. Coll. 62 A Sermon preached by Robert Abbot, Doctor of the Chair in Oxford.

1700 S. Scattergood Twelve Serm. ix. 133 An extraordinary Respect and Veneration from the common People, who looked upon them as infallible Doctors of the Chair.

1809 E. Christian in Blackstone's Comm. Laws Eng. (ed. 15) I. i. xi. 392 The chancellor, vice-chancellor, commissary, doctors of the chair..and readers of lectures.

1847 C. Roger Collation of Principal Engl. Transl. Sacred Script. 57 Soon after being installed Doctor in Divinity, he was appointed Regius Professor, or Doctor of the Chair.

Doctor of the Church n. (a title given to) any of a number of Christian theologians and church fathers whose writings and teachings are recognized to have had a significant influence on Christian theology and doctrine.Originally and chiefly used of the four ‘Latin Doctors’ of the Western Church, St Augustine of Hippo, St Jerome, St Ambrose, and St Gregory the Great (as named in Roman Catholic canon law). In 1568 the title was also given by Pope Pius V to St Athanasius of Alexandria, St Basil of Caesarea, St Gregory of Nazianzus, and St John Chrysostom, the four ‘Greek Doctors’ of the Orthodox Churches (although these churches do not use the title). Since the 16th cent. many more individuals have acquired the designation by formal proclamation of the Roman Catholic Church in recognition of their contribution to the development of its doctrine, including Thomas Aquinas, Teresa of Ávila, and the Venerable Bede. [After post-classical Latin doctores ecclesiae (5th or 6th cent.). Compare also Middle French docteurs de sainte eglise, docteurs de l'eglise (both 14th cent.).]

ΚΠ

1565 J. Calfhill Aunswere Treat. Crosse f. 121^v Hierome a doctor of the Church writeth [etc.].

1686 tr. J. B. Bossuet Disc. Hist. Whole World 118 He hearkened to St. Ambrose, the famous Doctor of the Church, who reproved him for his passion.

1730 Lit. Jrnl. Apr.–June 283 He grounded this opinion upon the authority of the antient Doctors of the Church, and particularly upon that of St. Jerom.

1842 Essex Standard 6 May These men have deserted the teaching of those early Doctors of the Church, by which they profess to be guided.

1970 Times 5 Oct. 5/3 The Pope today proclaimed St. Catherine of Siena, the patron saint of Italy, a Doctor of the Church.

2000 in D. S. Armentrout & R. B. Slocum Episcopal Dic. of Church 390/1 The patristic period was the time of many of the great Doctors of the Church, who have been recognized for their theological significance and personal holiness.

2020 G. Quicke Spiritual Discov. Christians Middle East iii. 36 The group of 36 Doctors of the Church includes four women and two Oriental Christians.

doctor of the law n. (also with capital initials) an authority on religious law, spec. (in the New Testament) a teacher and interpreter of the Mosaic Law (cf. lawyer n. 1b). Chiefly in plural. [In specific use after post-classical Latin legis doctor (New Testament, translating Hellenistic Greek νομοδιδάσκαλος).]

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c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Luke v. 17 There were Pharisees sittinge, and doctours of the lawe [L. legis doctores], that camen of ech castel of Galilee, and of Judee.

1565 T. Harding Confut. Apol. Church of Eng. ii. vii. f. Miiij^v What Keie had the Doctours of the Lawe, sauinge the Exposition of the Lawe?

1645 H. Hammond Pract. Catech. ii. i 158 The Pharisees as the most exact sect among the Jewes,..and the Scribes, as the Doctors of the law, and those that knew better what belonged to it then other men.

1888 B. Pick in Library Mag. Mar. 247 The last Doctors of the Law in the chain of Rabbinistic succession.

1936 Eccl. Rev. Aug. 136 The gospel speaks frequently of Scribes and Doctors of the Law.

2013 C. B. Gray & M. Tebbitt Philos. of Law 452 The doctors of the law were not members of a bureaucratic order.

P2. colloquial (originally and chiefly U.S.). you're (also you are) the doctor: used to indicate that the speaker defers to the judgement of the person addressed; ‘you're the expert’, ‘it's your decision’.

ΚΠ

1836 N.Y. Herald 29 July M. I think a month's incarceration would do you good. F. Well, you're the doctor; but I should like to hint an honest difference of opinion.

1896 Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago) 2 Feb. 31/2 Very well, Jack, you're the doctor.

1912 Outlook 13 Apr. 829/1 But you know you're the doctor. What you say goes.

1969 C. Young Todd Dossier 120 The thing to do now was relax..and forget about it. ‘Okay, you're the doctor,’ Charlie said.

2003 N.Y. Times 29 Apr. d4/1 He told me he had a good one from Panama and I said: ‘Bob, you're the doctor. I'll take him.’

P3. colloquial what the doctor ordered: something which meets a particular need, esp. one which has been previously expressed, or (more generally) which is very beneficial or desirable. Often as just what the doctor ordered.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > advantage > [noun] > an advantage, benefit, or favourable circumstance > a benefit > that makes happy or prosperous > a beneficial or desirable thing

good thing1745

what the doctor ordered1873

just the job1943

1873 Sporting Gaz. 22 Mar. 196/1 The race proved to be exactly what ‘the doctor ordered’.

1882 Globe (Atchison, Kansas) 14 Oct. Everybody knows what patience and self control is required..when the operator must go into the cellar for one piece of pipe, to the barn for another, and then hunt the premises over for an elbow or two, and after all is together in nice shape, and you think you have just what the doctor ordered, find that it is about a foot short.

1903 ‘T. Collins’ Such is Life 209 Physically, not one in ten of us is what the doctor ordered.

1948 G. Vidal City & Pillar i. i. 16 The waiter brought her a drink. ‘Just what the doctor ordered,’ she said, smiling at him.

1950 P. G. Wodehouse Nothing Serious 61 ‘You admired my little friend?’ ‘She is what the doctor ordered.’

2016 Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois) 16 Mar. 6/1 Sometimes cake is just what the doctor ordered.

P4. doctors and nurses (also patients) and variants: (the name of) a children's game in which the participants pretend to be doctors and nurses (or patients) and act out imagined medical scenarios; esp. such a game involving the participants exposing their genitals; hence in allusive use with reference to sexual role play between adults. Cf. sense 6e.In quot. 1863, and some other uses with play, the reference appears to be to the roles played rather than the name of a game; cf. play v. 13d.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > children's game > other children's games > [noun]

rosy apple1882

doctors and nurses (also patients)1906

doctor1918

knock down ginger1959

rat-a-tat ginger1959

riprap1959

rat-tat ginger1962

1863 Evening Mail 20 May 3/6 A group of little urchins, playing at doctor and patient.]

1906 F. P. Stearns Life & Genius N. Hawthorne x. 218 His two children playing a serio-comic game of doctor and patient, in the adjoining room.

2000 I. Pattison Stranger here Myself (2001) ii. 66 Boys at school made reference to their sexual experimentation with their sisters, Doctors and Nurses and such.

2006 Guardian 17 June (Guide Suppl.) 50/4 (advt.) F profess,..complementary health therapist..WLTM warm & sensual F to play ‘doctors & nurses’ with.

P5. Australian and New Zealand colloquial. to go for the doctor: to go at full speed; to apply or commit oneself wholeheartedly to something.In quot. 1907, perhaps more literally in the sense ‘to fetch a doctor’ (cf. to go for —— 1a at go v. Phrasal verbs 2).

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > rate of motion > swiftness > move swiftly [verb (intransitive)] > go at full speed

to burn the earth or windc1275

streekc1380

career1647

streak1768

streak1834

score1858

to go eyes out1863

to go for the doctor1907

the world > action or operation > manner of action > vigour or energy > act or do vigorously [verb (intransitive)] > act in thoroughgoing manner

to go the whole hog1825

to go the whole figure1831

to go the whole (also entire, etc.) animal1833

to go for the doctor1907

1907 Daily Tel. (Sydney) 29 July 5/1 The riders of Anatroff and Set Free appeared to think they had special orders ‘to go for the doctor’, and after the pace they set in front it was not surprising that their mounts knocked up at the end of seven furlongs.

1913 Truth (Brisbane) 14 Dec. 3/3 This is not Page's usual way of riding, for he is inclined to go for the doctor, and make every post a winning post.

1971 P. Newton Ten Thousand Dogs 112 Anyway Jim knew what he had to beat and ‘he went for the doctor’ and turned in a winning run.

2018 Austral. Financial Rev. (Nexis) 19 Jan. (Life & Leisure section) 14 If you want to go for the doctor, and perhaps chase down a Porsche 911 or two, it's the RS model you'll be looking at.

Compounds

(Chiefly in sense 6a.)

C1.

a. General use as a modifier, as in doctor fees, doctor jargon, doctor training, etc.

ΚΠ

1833 D. H. Whitney Family Physician ii. 149 It was essential to understand these in order to practice successfully, and in doctor style.

1922 Rep. Divisional Land Settlement State Calif. 30 Serious illness for several months and doctor fees.

1933 Soviet Union Rev. 11 187/2 The Moscow Institute has become an all-Union center for supplementary doctor training.

1962 Sunday Times 10 June 6/2 The Minister of Health, Mr Enoch Powell, has been challenged..on the statistics he produced to show ‘that there is no growing doctor shortage.’

2011 S. Maloney Twenty Six 166 The only thing left to keep him from being discredited was his use of the right doctor jargon.

2013 K. Murrow Busting Loose vii. 83 None of that illegible doctor scrawl crap she always heard jokes about.

b. With other nouns, with the sense ‘that is both a doctor and a ——’, as in doctor-barber, doctor-farrier, doctor-surgeon, etc.

ΚΠ

1638 J. Ford Fancies v. 70 Some Doctor-Farriers are of opinion that the Mare may cast a Foale.

a1785 J. Hall-Stevenson Wks. (1795) II. 185 Here end the bleedings and purgings Of the ghastliest of doctor surgeons.

1856 Home Friend Mar. 288 The head is then covered with ointment and bandaged, and the doctor-barber visits his patient No. 3.

1875 Chem. News 29 Jan. 52/1 Emile Budde, doctor chemist, Auteuil, Paris.

1972 R. H. Woolsey Flying Doctor of Philippines i. 15 Bill had also followed the fortunes and misfortunes of David Livingstone, doctor-explorer of the African continent.

2010 E. W. Lovrien Doctor Guilt? 55 In 1964, Dr. Judith Pool, a doctor-scientist at Stanford University discovered cryoprecipitate (cryo), which was effective in treating bleeds in hemophilia.

c. With past participles with the sense ‘by or by means of a doctor or doctors’, as in doctor-approved, doctor-prescribed, doctor-recommended, etc.

ΚΠ

1928 Bull. Amer. Libr. Assoc. Sept. 424/1 The doctor-prescribed diets aid in the patients' physical welfare.

1952 Washington Post 25 May 6 l/5 The second annual summer youth program features individual instruction, balanced nutrition and doctor-supervised health care.

1990 Internat. Jrnl. Epidemiol. 19 834/2 Although the hypertension is self-reported it is ‘doctor-diagnosed’ in a well-educated population intensely interested in health.

2014 Atlanta Jrnl.-Constit. (Nexis) 3 Aug. 16 e The most common doctor-recommended supplements for seniors are calcium and vitamins D and B-12.

C2. As a modifier or (more usually) in the genitive, designating a formal certificate signed by a doctor, stating the results of a medical examination; now often spec. designating such a certificate as prepared for submission to an employer, confirming that an employee is unable to work due to illness or injury, as in doctor's certificate, doctor's line, doctor's note, etc.

ΚΠ

1711 Evening Post 21 June Her Majesty upon their humble Petition, and the Doctor's Certificate of their ill State of Health, was graciously pleas'd to order the Attorney General to consent to their being bailed.

1818 Rules & Regulations to be observed by Members of United Brotherly Soc. 8 If any member be sick or lame, so as to be disabled from following his employment.., he shall..make verbal declaration thereof to the stewards... The stewards may request a doctor's certificate when necessary.

1838 Woolmer's Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 28 Apr. The..men..are also deprived of the privilege of..a doctor's note when sick.

1855 Lamp 15 Dec. 806/2 ‘Has he been long sick?’ I asked. ‘He'll be sax weeks, Sabbath coming.’ ‘Have you a “doctor's line”?’

1973 Times 16 Apr. 1/4 The child,..who has eczema and cannot be vaccinated, had a doctor's letter instead [of a smallpox vaccination certificate].

1994 Bangor (Maine) Daily News (Nexis) 10 Sept. The chief's most recent doctor note indicates that he will be out of work until the first week of October.

2019 Irish Times (Nexis) 16 July (Health section) 4 While employers may still ask for a doctor's certificate to cover an absence, the ongoing shortage of GPs means workers can struggle to get an appointment.

C3.

doctor-assisted suicide n. the process by which a person who is terminally ill or suffering from an incurable condition voluntarily ends his or her life with the assistance of a doctor (whose role is typically to provide a lethal dose of a drug at the explicit request of the mentally competent patient); = physician-assisted suicide n. at physician n. Compounds 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > death > killing > suicide > [noun] > types of

sati1806

satiism1828

hara-kiri1856

junshi1871

seppuku1871

ritual suicide1903

murder-suicide1904

autocide1923

mass suicide1937

doctor-assisted suicide1975

self-deliverance1975

self-deliveration1975

assisted suicide1976

suicide by cop1986

bullycide2001

1975 Lebanon (Pa.) Daily News 16 Sept. 17/5 He clarifies comprehensively and point by point your right to refuse lifesaving treatment and, in special circumstances, even your right to doctor-assisted suicide.

1998 D. C. Thomasma et al. Asking to Die iii. i. 487 Oregon became the first state in the U.S. (in November, 1994) to legalize doctor-assisted suicide by providing that mentally competent adults with fewer than six months to live can request from their doctors lethal doses of oral medication.

2015 Sunday Times 7 June 14/2 She decided on a pre-emptive doctor-assisted suicide in order to avoid any further irreversible suffering.

doctor box n. a box in a printing machine or similar apparatus which contains a supply of ink, pigment, etc., and of which a doctor (sense 11a) forms part.

ΚΠ

1860 R. Hunt Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 5) I. 512 This doctor box takes but little room, and wastes but little colour, but is only used for the uppermost rollers.

1981 Brit. Patent 1,584,698 4/1 The printing station is a driven screen printing stencil with a dye pipe and an inner colour doctor box.

2019 U.S. Patent 2019/0176375 A1 1/1 The fiber reinforced polymer material is made as a continuous sheet wherein a resin paste is transferred to a doctor box where it is deposited onto a moving carrier film passing directly beneath.

doctor fish n. (a) any of various tropical marine fishes which comprise the genus Acanthurus (family Acanthuridae) and have a sharp pointed spine on either side of the base of the tail, esp. A. chirurgus; = sense 10; (b) either of two small cyprinid fishes, Garra rufa and Cyprinion macrostomum, which can feed on the outermost layer of human skin and are widely used in pedicure and the treatment of skin diseases.

ΚΠ

1815 M. G. Lewis Jrnl. 1815–16 31 Dec. in Jrnl. W. India Proprietor (1834) 50 Its name is the ‘Doctor Fish’.

1907 A. E. Verrill Bermuda Islands I. (Suppl. ed. 2) 574 (caption) Blue Doctor-fish, Blue Tang (Teuthis cœruleus).

1989 Lancet 4 Nov. 1093/2 The pools contain three types of fish, known locally as strikers, jabbers, and lickers... All the bathers we spoke to were enthusiastic about the doctor fish.

2011 Observer 1 May 13/4 The practice of using Garra rufa fish—often called ‘doctor fish’—to heal skin dates back over 400 years.

2017 Marine Ecol. Progress Ser. 580 41/1 A number of fisheries regulations have been put in place across Belize to protect exploited species. These include..a complete ban on the harvest of..acanthurids (tang/surgeonfish/doctorfish).

doctor gum n. any of several tropical trees, esp. the poisonwood Metobium toxiferum, having gum resin formerly used as a purgative and emetic; (also) the gum itself; cf. hog gum n.

ΚΠ

1825 A. P. de Candolle Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis II. 67 R[hus] Metopium... Doctor-gum.

1912 T. E. Thorpe Dict. Appl. Chem. (rev. ed.) III. 23/2 The result is that the gum may differ considerably in properties. Hog or Doctor gum consists of reddish tears.

1995 T. E. Anderson Poison Ivy, Oak & Sumac Bk. vii. 89 The Florida Poisonwood Tree (Metopium toxiferum—native to Central America and the Caribbean—has colonized Florida as far north as Daytona Beach... Also known as Coral Sumac, Hog Gum, and Doctor Gum, its resinous gum is emetic, purgative, and diuretic.

† doctor-monger n. Obsolete rare (a nickname for) a member of a sect of the Lollards.

ΚΠ

c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 87 Summe of ȝou ben clepid Doctour-mongers.

doctor–patient adj. designating or relating to the relationship between a doctor and a patient, or doctors and patients generally; cf. patient–doctor adj. at patient adj. and n. Compounds 2.

ΚΠ

1928 New Eng. Jrnl. Med. 19 July 161/2 The doctor-patient relation can be regarded as a fiduciary relationship.

1983 L. Thomas Youngest Sci. vi. 59 The doctor-patient relationship was, for better or worse, a long conversation in which the patient was at the epicenter of concern and knew it.

2019 Times of India (Nexis) 24 Sept. Effective doctor-patient communication gives patients a sense of being heard and allowed to express their concerns.

† doctor's curse n. Obsolete rare (a nickname for) a dose of calomel (see calomel n.).

ΚΠ

1821 P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 226 I..took the doctor's curse, or, in other words, a dose of calomel.

doctor's gum n. now rare any of several tropical trees having gum resin formerly used medicinally; (also) the gum itself; = doctor gum n.

ΚΠ

1847 R. E. Griffith Med. Bot. 186 The R [hus] metopium, a West India species, furnishes a gum known as ‘Doctor's gum,’ which, in large doses, is emeto-cathartic, and is said in smaller ones, to be a useful remedy in disorders of the bowels and respiratory organs.

1887 C. A. Moloney Sketch Forestry W. Afr. 279 Hog or Doctor's gum, Gamboge tree (Symphonia globulifera).

1946 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 31 Aug. 298/1 Flourishing throughout the open spaces of the Bahama Islands and in southernmost Florida (where it is also known as ‘doctor's gum’), has attracted little attention outside the immediate vicinity.

doctor's mandate n. British Politics a mandate given by an electorate authorizing a government to take whatever measures are necessary to deal with some extreme or critical situation.Originally with reference to appeals for a government of national unity in the General Election of 1931. [With allusion to the idea that a government must respond urgently and autonomously in a crisis, as a doctor does in a medical emergency.]

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > [noun] > a representative assembly > fact of representing or being represented > mandate > type of

doctor's mandate1931

1931 Evening Tel. (Dundee) 28 Sept. 4/4 What Mr MacDonald will ask for can be described as a ‘doctor's mandate’.

1973 Times 17 Dec. 15/1 Some of the substantial voices that now call for a doctor's mandate from the people who stand close enough to the Prime Minister for him to feel the full cogency of their persuasions.

1991 20th Cent. Brit. Hist. (BNC) 20 There is some evidence that it was Snowden who suggested the formula of the ‘doctor's mandate’..under which the component parts of the National Government were each to issue their own manifestos.

doctor's office n. chiefly North American a room or establishment where a doctor treats or advises patients; cf. doctor's surgery n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > places for the sick or injured > [noun] > surgery or consulting-room

examining room1775

doctor1808

doctor's office1809

doctor's surgery1842

consulting room1843

surgery1846

operatory1948

1809 Balance & N.Y. State Jrnl. 14 Nov. (advt.) An upper-room..suitable for a Lawyer's or a Doctor's Office.

1827 Ariel (Philadelphia) 14 Apr. I lived..near the Doctor's office.., where I had an opportunity of witnessing many of his wonderful cures.

1931 Amer. Mercury Feb. 194/1 One of the boys fell beneath the trucks..and would perhaps have died from loss of blood had not a member of the train crew corded the limb until the boy could be taken to a doctor's office.

2011 D. Richards Real Girl Next Door x. 231 My parents..took me to the doctor's office on the morning of the surgery.

doctorspeak n. somewhat depreciative a style of writing and speaking considered characteristic of doctors and other medical professionals, esp. in containing technical jargon or being obfuscatory.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > a language > register > [noun] > jargon > used by other groups

indenture Englisha1568

water language1702

jockeyism1802

slum1812

Polari1846

stable-language1856

scientificism1860

water-slang1860

Oxfordish1863

galley-slang1867

pitmatic1885

commercialese1910

legalese1911

academese1917

Hollywoodese1920

businessese1921

Hollywoodism1925

trade unionese1927

advertisingese1929

officese1935

sociologese1940

Whitehallese1940

Newspeak1949

patter1949

Pentagonese1950

educationese1958

computerese1960

managementese1961

spacespeak1963

computer-speak1968

techno-jargon1972

business-speak1973

Eurospeak1975

Euro-jargon1976

technospeak1976

doctorspeak1977

corporate-speak1978

medspeak1979

mellowspeak1979

technobabble1981

teenspeak1982

management-speak1986

codespeak1987

1977 Cullman (Alabama) Times 5 Oct. 5/3 Doctorspeak is that peculiar language spoken by hospital personnel and doctors which carefully conceals a patient's true condition.

1996 J. Graedon & T. Graedon People's Pharmacy (new rev. ed.) ii. 32 Most of these medications actually cause more dangerous heart rhythms than they cure. In doctorspeak, they are ‘pro-arrhythmic’.

2019 Sunday Times (Nexis) 14 July (Mag.) There's no treatment [for measles]. Management is basically ‘supportive’, which is doctorspeak for helping you with your breathing while your body attempts to fight off this virus.

doctor's stuff n. (also doctor-stuff) colloquial (now rare) medicine, medication.

ΚΠ

1773 R. Graves Spiritual Quixote III. x. xvii. 131 The man said, ‘..he could not take Doctor's stuff, if he died for it’.

a1774 R. Fergusson Poems (1785) 171 Ye lowns that troke in doctor's stuff, You'll now hae unco slaisters.

1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. I. xv. 171 Like doctor-stuff generally, it is not as appetizing as desirable.

1924 J. C. Lincoln Rugged Water xviii. 354 I don't know what this doctor stuff is, but it generally soothes him down and gets him to sleep again. Some kind of morphine or such dratted trash, I presume likely.

1945 Strand Mag. Nov. 36/1 Mr. Chislehurst..was a chemist... He didn't work at a shop, making up doctor's stuff. He was very clever, and exercised his cleverness in a place which Mrs. Pigeon called a lab-oratory.

doctor's surgery n. chiefly British a room or establishment where a doctor treats or advises patients (cf. doctor's office n.); (sometimes also) an occasion on which medical treatment or consultation occurs.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > places for the sick or injured > [noun] > surgery or consulting-room

examining room1775

doctor1808

doctor's office1809

doctor's surgery1842

consulting room1843

surgery1846

operatory1948

the world > health and disease > healing > art or science of medicine > practice of healing art > [noun] > consultation session

surgery1938

doctor's surgery1993

1842 Punch 2 236/2 The Excise-office is a noble building, with an extensive parlour window, nearly as large as the Doctor's surgery next door.

1963 N. Hilliard Piece of Land 82 The milking shed was a sight to see: as spick and span as a doctor's surgery.

1993 J. Everton in K. Fisher & J. Collins Homelessness, Health Care & Welfare Provision i. 25 Housing projects arrange for a doctor's surgery to be held in the project or for a nurse's services to be available.

2013 N. Solomons Gallery Vanished Husbands 175 The doctor's surgery was filled with fretting babies and tired, grey-looking mothers.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2022).

doctorv.

Brit.

/ˈdɒktə/, U.S.

/ˈdɑktər/

Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: doctor n.

Etymology: < doctor n.

1. transitive. To confer the title or degree of Doctor on (a person); to award a doctorate to.In early use with reference to scholars qualified to teach theology (cf. doctor n. 5b).

ΘΚΠ

society > education > educational administration > university administration > taking degree or graduation > take degree [verb (transitive)] > confer degree on > specific degree

doctorate1591

doctor1594

doctorize1600

bedoctor1806

1594 A. Hume Reioynder Dr. Hil 92 Why M. Doctor, haue you (now you are Doctored) forgot the olde speach of the Schooles, when you were a generall?

1599 E. Sandys Europæ Speculum (1632) 117 Which Church hath now fully..delivered her mind in the late Councell of Trent; whereto all that are solemnly doctored in Italy must subscribe.

a1634 R. Chapman Hallelu-jah (1635) 55 Being as truely Doctored in the acting of sinnes, as the Iesuites in the art of poysoning.

1741 A. Pope Corr. 12 Aug. (1956) IV. 357 I will be Doctor'd with you, or not at all.

1868 G. V. Cox Recoll. Oxf. xx. 371 Dr. Newman (once of us as Mr. Newman, but doctored by the Pope) was tried and found guilty of publishing ‘a defamatory paper’.

1873 J. R. Lowell Lett. (1894) II. 108 I have been over to Oxford to be doctored, and had a very pleasant time of it.

1891 Sat. Rev. 20 June 730/1 Cambridge on Tuesday ‘doctored’ among others her new High Steward.

1993 A. L. Rowse All Souls vii. 178 Lionel Robbins and I were doctored together at Exeter.

a. transitive. (a) To adulterate or dilute (alcoholic drink). Now rare. (b) To add alcohol, a drug, or another harmful substance to (food or drink), typically surreptitiously; to spike.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > condition or state of being mixed or blended > mix or blend [verb (transitive)] > add as ingredient to a mixture > qualify by admixture > adulterate

adulterc1384

feigna1398

sophisticatec1400

infect?1440

counterfeit1495

adulterate?1526

dash1548

falsify1562

elay1573

abuse1574

base1581

corrupt1581

debase1591

adulterize1593

compass1594

sophisticate1604

allay1634

huckster1642

hucksterize1646

cauponize1652

alloy1661

balderdash1674

impurify1693

doctor1726

vitiate1728

sand1851

dope1898

1726 Tavern Scuffle 12 It seems of late, they have learn'd the Art of doctoring their own Wines, so that we may have it imported here, yet adulterated there.

1794 G. Turner Gen. View Agric. Gloucester 53 The method that has, I fear, too much prevailed in Devonshire, Gloucestershire, and Herefordshire, of doctoring the cyder.

1847 Remarks Colonial Policy Brit. N. Amer. 37 Not sherry at all, but doctored with an enormous proportion of brandy, to suit the British market.

1898 Manch. Weekly Times 14 Jan. 4/4 He was not very well pleased, saying that his food had been doctored.

1971 Soviet Weekly 12 June 16 It is..almost too pure, and has to be doctored to make it palatable for drinking.

1982 B. Beaumont Thanks to Rugby xiii. 176 Jeff Squire was doctoring each drink with..vodka. By the end Noel was plastered and legless.

2012 G. Manville Flight into Reality (e-book, accessed 9 Sept. 2021) xi. 80 Could Kyle have doctored her drink? Now, here she was in his bed.

b. transitive. To make alterations to (something) in order to deceive; (in later use) spec. to change the content or appearance of (a document, picture, or other source of information) so as to give a misleading or false impression; to falsify, fabricate.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > forgery, falsification > forge, falsify [verb (transitive)]

forgec1330

counterfeitc1386

feign1484

flamc1500

adulterate?1526

mint1593

fashion1600

fudge1674

sham1699

doctor1750

fake1884

to fake up1885

phoney1940

bodgie1969

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > forgery, falsification > faking of documents > forge, falsify [verb (transitive)]

false1303

forgec1330

counterfeitc1386

deceit1484

falsify1502

forge1535

sophisticate1605

doctor1750

fabricate1779

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > duping, making a fool of > befool, cheat, dupe [verb (transitive)] > alter or manipulate something for the purpose of deception

cook1636

doctor1750

fake1819

rig1826

ready2004

1750 Conversat. between Blacksmith & Merchant 5 The Circumference of a broad Half-Guinea, and a whole Guinea well sweated, and doctored by these Artists, being so nearly equal, that without observing the Thickness..you could hardly judge of the Difference.

a1777 S. Foote Cozeners (1778) iii. ii. 77 I wish we had time though to doctor his face.

1847 T. De Quincey Spanish Mil. Nun (1853) xxi. 66 Modes of doctoring dice.

1883 Amer. Counting-room Sept. 160/1 Jones invests his money; in due time he sorrowfully learns that the accounts were doctored for the occasion, and that things are very different from what they were represented to him.

1958 Vogue 15 Jan. 96 Remaking your age has nothing to do with doctoring the dates on your birth certificate.

2008 Wall St. Jrnl. 11 July a7/1 Iran apparently doctored a photograph of missile test-firings and exaggerated the capabilities of the weapons.

c. transitive. Cricket. To tamper with (the pitch) in order to gain an unfair advantage, typically by creating conditions which benefit the bowlers from one's own team. Also (Cricket, Baseball, and other games): to tamper with (the ball) so as to affect its flight. Cf. ball doctoring n. at ball n.¹ Compounds 2.In quot. 1887 perhaps an ironic use of sense 4b.

ΚΠ

1887 S. Austral. Advertiser 28 Dec. 7/3 The person or persons who had ‘doctored’ the wicket had no doubt been actuated by the best of intentions as regarded our team.

1895 T. Hughes Vacation Rambles 324 An English lower-school boy would have brought down a bonhomme at that distance with every ball, unless the balls were somehow doctored.

1956 Life 10 Sept. 67/1 ‘Wet ones’—i.e., baseballs doctored illegally with spit or perspiration.

1985 Times 19 July 23/8 After doctoring the pitch for their home tie with Middlesex in the last round, justice would have been done had Essex been drawn away.

1992 N.Y. Times 23 June b11/5 Both Leary and Yankee Manager Buck Showalter denied that the pitcher doctored the baseball, but the replays during the nationally televised game were quite revealing.

2006 Financial Times 22 Aug. 4/2 Doctoring the ball to make it swing more is one of the oldest tricks.

a. transitive. To give medical care or attention to (a person or animal, or a part of the body); to treat (a disease or medical condition). Now chiefly U.S. colloquial.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > [verb (transitive)]

curea1398

dighta1400

doctor1738

to doctor up1741

treat1781

vet1900

1738 J. Swift Treat. Polite Conversat. 87 I hear he's weary of doctoring it [sc. the gout], and now makes Use of nothing but Patience, and Flannel.

1740 H. Bracken Farriery Improv'd (ed. 2) II. i. 47 Rather than suffer a good serviceable Creature to be doctor'd out of his Life by the common Farriers.

1773 Let. 5 May in F. Mason John Norton & Sons (1968) 320 I had him..not only to feed but to Doctor and take care off or he must have died.

1832 P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 38 Brodie..prescribed for me and sent me off to doctor myself.

1845 C. Dickens Let. 17 Feb. (1977) IV. 268 An Englishman, who has lived here many years..is well acquainted with the people, whom he doctored in the bad time of cholera.

1916 M. S. Croy Putnam's Househ. Handbk. 227 In doctoring a cold, care should be taken to keep the bowels moving freely.

1936 M. Mitchell Gone with Wind (1962) i. ii. 39 The black leather bag in which Ellen O'Hara always carried the bandages and medicines she used in doctoring the slaves.

2013 B. Williamson Dawn's Shadow (e-book, accessed 10 Sept. 2021) viii. 336 The desired tears never came; instead, after she finished doctoring his wounds, she too admonished him.

b. intransitive. colloquial. To work as a doctor or physician; to practise medicine. Also with on: to treat (someone) medically; = sense 3a. Cf. earlier doctoring n. 2.

ΚΠ

1838 E. L. Joseph Warner Arundell II. ii. 41 Our young friend, who saved our eldest boy, has paid us a visit to try his hand at doctoring on me.

1897 People State N.Y. vs. Howard C. Benham: Appeal Papers: Jurors (Supreme Court County of Genesee) (1898) I. §4701 Q. He has doctored in your family? A. Not in mine; he has in my father's family.

1977 Salina (Kansas) Jrnl. 17 Apr. 32/2 He doctored all around the countryside and at Fort Riley.

2017 J. Ward Sing, Unburied, Sing 120 When they untied him, his back was full of blood..and sergeant told me to doctor on him.

2021 @Dr_Ayan 1 Apr. in twitter.com (accessed 22 Nov. 2021) Been doctoring for 22 years now and been a GP for 18 of them.

c. intransitive. colloquial (chiefly U.S.). To receive medical treatment; to take medicine.

ΚΠ

1838 Botanico-Med. Recorder 7 Apr. 211/2 I doctored with Shimer two and a half weeks; but he did me more harm than good.

1899 Jrnl. Educ. Jan. 44/3 I doctored with our family physician without any good result, so my husband urged me to try Dr. Pierce's medicines.

1911 Watchman-Warder (Lindsay, Ont.) 6 Apr. 5/4 [She] has been doctoring with Toronto specialists for cancer in the throat since last fall.

2006 Gettysburg (Pa.) Times 8 June b5/1 My husband has emphysema. He has been doctoring for this for years.

a. transitive. To make changes to or edit (a text or manuscript), originally so as to emend or improve the text, but later sometimes with the implication of an intention to mislead or deceive.Later use sometimes merges into sense 2b.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > literary and textual criticism > textual criticism > practise textual criticism [verb (transitive)] > emend

amend?c1225

correctc1374

reformc1425

emaculate1623

mend1631–2

castigate1666

rectify1730

emend1769

doctor?c1775

redress1796

emendate1876

?c1775 G. Steevens Let. in D. Garrick Private Corr. (1832) (modernized text) II. 122 Surely Troilus and Cressida would do more, if it were well clipped and doctored.

1833 R. H. Froude Remains (1838) I. 317 Can these [verses] be doctored into any thing available?

1902 Hibbert Jrnl. Oct. 101 In the Paris and Vatican codices the text has been doctored in two subsequent passages... But in neither case has the corrector availed himself of either of the forms found in the Greek MSS. of Matthew.

1983 Angelicum 60 318 By doctoring the manuscript in a few ways—adding a preface and appending a note at the end—Galileo was able to get Riccardi's approval and his book was printed at Florence in 1632.

2015 H. W. Basser & M. B. Cohen Gospel of Matthew & Judaic Trad. xix. 489 Many modern commentators assume that the words..were appended by Matthew onto a pre-existent Jesus tradition, that his text has been doctored, and that originally divorce per se was a real issue.

b. transitive. To mend or repair (something); to patch up.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > amending > put right [verb (transitive)]

helpc950

amendc1230

bootc1330

correctc1374

menda1375

recovera1398

dighta1400

restorea1400

redressa1402

recurec1425

remedyc1425

remeidc1480

emendc1485

richa1500

rightena1500

chastisea1513

rectifya1529

redeem1575

salve1575

remed1590

reclaim1593

renew1608

retrieve1625

recruit1673

raccommode1754

splice1803

doctor1829

remediate1837

right-side1847

sort1948

society > occupation and work > industry > manufacturing processes > mending or repairing > [verb (transitive)]

beetc975

menda1200

amenda1250

rightc1275

botcha1382

reparela1382

cure1382

repaira1387

dighta1400

emend1411

to mend up1479

restablishc1500

help1518

trimc1520

redub1522

reparate1548

accommodate1552

reinstaure1609

reconcinnate1623

to do up1647

righta1656

fixa1762

doctor1829

vamp1837

service1916

rejig1976

1829 H. Alford Jrnl. 23 Nov. in Life, Jrnls. & Lett. (1873) 50 Wasted most of the morning in doctoring a clock.

1913 A. E. Bergh How Bk. iii. 164 Dilapidated bags and worn-out gripsacks may be doctored in the same way.

1951 Sport 30 Mar. 9/2 The Griffin Park field was doctored last summer at a cost of £2,500.

2010 @JonathanKWeaver 12 May in twitter.com (accessed 7 Sept. 2021) My car has been doctored. Hopefully it will last.

5. transitive. Scottish and English regional (East Anglian). To injure (a person or animal) fatally; to kill; (now only) to finish off, ‘do for’. Now rare. Sc. National Dict. (at Doctor v.) records this sense as still in use in Shetland and Lanarkshire in the 1940s.

ΚΠ

1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. at Doctor v. To doctor one, to kill one..Clydes[dale].

1900 F. Hall in Eng. Dial. Dict. II. at Doctor [Suffolk] My dawg's a wonder to doctor a rat.

1928 in Sc. National Dict. at Doctor When two boys had a fight one would say of the winner, ‘He fairly doctored Jock this time.’

6. transitive. To remove the sexual organs of (an animal) so that it cannot reproduce; (in early use) spec. to castrate (a male animal, esp. a working ram, stallion, etc.). Cf. neuter v. 1.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > animal keeping practices general > [verb (transitive)] > castrate

geldc1225

lib1396

stone1584

caponize1654

alter1821

twitchel1826

doctor1834

neuter1903

fix1930

capon-

1834 Hobart Town Courier 14 Nov. 1/4 (advt.) This fine young horse..will cover a few mares this season, never having been ‘doctored’ he will be found a sure foal getter.

1902 F. Simpson Cats ii. 30 It is necessary..to have your male cat doctored when he arrives at years of discretion.

1954 L. M. Barker Pears Cycl. (ed. 62) 957/2 Many cats of both sexes are castrated or spayed (the popular expression for this is ‘doctored’).

1970 C. Kersh Aggravations of Minnie Ashe v. 63 He had been paid ‘good English money’ to doctor our cat.

2012 A. Tootill Cole & Cat Woman (2015) (e-book, accessed 7 Sept. 2021) vii. 94 Presumably the cats are doctored, so no particular problem with male or female.

Phrasal verbs

to doctor up

1. transitive. To change the appearance or composition of (something) in order to achieve a particular result, typically either for the purposes of deception or to make an improvement. Cf. sense 2.

ΚΠ

1725 Applebee's Orig. Weekly Jrnl. 27 Nov. Have not you and I..as much right to doctor up a Journal, and take three half-pence for the rectifying the Brains of Mankind, as this dres'd up Gew Gaw of a Mountebank has to give his Packets out, with his good for nothing Plaisters.

1822 C. Lillie Brit. Perfumer ix. 330 This imitation consists of very base and dangerous materials. These are doctored up and coloured.

1891 C. M. Clay Railway Issue 14 He alleges that President Breyfogle has doctored up the records of the directory and packed the boad with his personal friends.

1939 Consumers' Guide 10 Oct. 5/1 Dealers should stop doctoring up samples and misrepresenting quality.

1987 Associated Press (Nexis) 14 Dec. The alcohol was in a juice can that ‘had been doctored up’.

2020 Tampa Bay (Florida) Times (Nexis) 9 Jan. Doctor up the bowls to your liking with chili flakes, fish sauce, sliced and pickled jalapenos and sweet red chili paste.

2. transitive. To give medical care or attention to (a person or animal); to dose up with something. Cf. sense 3a. Now chiefly U.S. colloquial.

ΚΠ

1741 Trials S. Goodere, M. Mahony, & C. White 25 The Captain said to the Doctor, Doctor, I have got an old mad Fellow here, you must doctor him up as well as you can.

1842 C. Whitehead Richard Savage (1845) I. xi. 156 We'll doctor him up while you're gone.

1895 House Furnishing Rev. Dec. 216/2 I nursed her and doctored her up, and she finally got well.

1954 Harder Coll. in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (1991) II. at Doctor I doctored him up with white linament [sic].

1996 J. H. Hallas Killing Ground on Okinawa iii. 45 Chaisson and the corpsman doused the holes [in his legs] with sulfa powder, applied some bandages, and doctored him up.

2014 S. Choquette Walking Home 208 They doctored him up with some strange natural remedies that surprisingly worked.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2022).

单词	doctor
释义	doctorn. Brit. /ˈdɒktə/, U.S. /ˈdɑktər/ Forms: Middle English docteur, Middle English doktor, Middle English doktour, Middle English dottoure, Middle English dottys (plural, transmission error), Middle English–1500s doctowr, Middle English–1600s doctoure, Middle English–1600s doctur, Middle English–1700s doctour, Middle English– doctor, 1500s– docter (now nonstandard), 1500s–1600s doctore, 1900s– docther (Irish English (northern)); Scottish pre-1700 dochtour, pre-1700 docter, pre-1700 docteur, pre-1700 doctore, pre-1700 doctour, pre-1700 doctowr, pre-1700 doctur, pre-1700 doictur, pre-1700 1700s– doctor, 1900s– doactir, 1900s– doactor. See also Dr n.¹ Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French doctor; Latin doctor. Etymology: < (i) Anglo-Norman doctor, doctur, doctour, Anglo-Norman and Middle French docteur (Old French doctor , doctour , docteur ; French docteur ) teacher, instructor, learned person, scholar, theologian (all 12th cent.), person who holds the highest degree awarded by a university, and hence is entitled to teach (14th cent. in Middle French), physician or medical practitioner (15th cent. in Middle French; 14th cent. in docteur en medecine , also 15th cent. in docteur medecine ); and its etymon (ii) < classical Latin doctor teacher, instructor, in post-classical Latin also teacher of the Jewish law (Vulgate), apostle (2nd or 3rd cent. in Tertullian), catechist (3rd cent.), bishop (4th cent.), preacher (5th cent.), scholar, theologian (6th cent.), medical doctor (7th cent.), person holding the highest degree at a university (frequently from late 13th cent. in British sources; also in continental sources) < doct- , past participial stem of docēre to teach (see docent adj.) + -or -or suffix.With use with reference to the four ‘Latin Doctors’ (see sense 3a) compare post-classical Latin quatuor doctores (14th cent.). With doctor of law (see quot. c1400 at sense 5a) compare post-classical Latin juris doctor , doctor juris (from 14th cent. in British sources), Anglo-Norman doctour de la lei (14th cent.), doctour de ley (15th cent.). With doctor of laws (see quots. 1791 at sense 4a, 1843 at sense 4a) compare post-classical Latin legum doctor (from 14th cent. in British sources), Anglo-Norman doctour des lois (14th cent.), Middle French docteur en lois (15th cent.). With doctor of both laws (i.e. civil and canon: see quot. a1475 at sense 5a) compare post-classical Latin doctor utriusque juris (from 14th cent. in British sources), Anglo-Norman doctur d’ambedeus leis (14th cent.), and also Middle French docteur en lois et en decret (15th cent.). I. A teacher; a person qualified to teach, and related senses. 1. †a. A teacher, an instructor; a person who provides instruction in a particular area of knowledge; (also) an exponent or proponent of a particular belief, opinion, or principle. Obsolete.Sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense 2a. ΘΚΠ society > education > teaching > teacher > [noun] larewc900 mastereOE lorthewc1160 lore-fatherc1175 lerera1340 lister1377 loresman1377 doctora1382 learner1382 teacherc1384 readera1387 lore-mastera1400 former1401 informer?c1422 preceptorc1450 instructora1464 informator1483 doctrinal?1504 lear-father1533 usher1533 instructer1534 trainer1543 educator1609 instituter1670 institutorc1675 subpreceptor1696 Barbe1710 pundit1816 umfundisi1825 preception1882 guru1884 mwalimu1884 rabbi1917 a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Isa. xxxiii. 18 Thin herte sweteli shal thenke drede; wher is the lettrid? Wher is the wrdus of the lawe chargende? wher is the doctour of litil childer [L. doctor parvulorum]? 1485 W. Caxton tr. Thystorye & Lyf Charles the Grete sig. aij/1 Saynt Poul doctour of veryte [Fr. docteur de verité] sayth to vs that al thynges that ben reduced by wrytyng, ben wryton to our doctryne. 1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Matt. i. f. 20 The heauenly doctour Christe Jesus [L. coelesti doctore Iesu Christo]. 1557 Bible (Whittingham) Matt. xxiii. 10 Be not called Doctors, for ther is but one your Doctor [Gk. καθηγητὴς], and he is Christe. 1665 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 1 73 If this be truth, the Prohibitions of publishing this doctrine..will be laid aside, as one of the most zealous Doctors of the contrary Opinion hath given cause to hope. 1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 32 Do these new doctors of the rights of men assert, that King James the Second..was not to all intents and purposes a lawful king of England? 1864 J. H. Newman Apologia App. 77 St. Augustine..is the doctor of the great and common view that all untruths are lies. b. spec. (Scottish). An assistant teacher in a school; = school doctor n. 2. Now rare (historical in later use). ΚΠ 1565 Extracts Rec. in W. Chambers Charters Burgh Peebles (1872) 299 The counsaill ordanis the scuill master to gait ane doictur..to tech vnder him. 1640 in W. Steven Hist. High School Edinb. (1849) ii. 56 For the tryell of the maister and doctors in teatching. 1697 Burnett Family Papers in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Doctour Mr Andrew Milne, doctor at the school of Banchorie. 1793 J. Sinclair Statist. Acct. Scotl. VII. 179 Mr Cunningham..was then rector, and had always a doctor under him. 1985 R. A. Houston Sc. Literacy & Sc. Identity (2002) iii. 99 The employment of the doctor (assistant) from Brechin grammar school as reader at Menmuir in March 1637 was the result of this problem of maintaining continuity. †2. a. A person whose learning or skill in a particular branch of knowledge entitles him or her to speak authoritatively on it; an eminently learned person. Obsolete.Sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense 1a. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > scholarly knowledge, erudition > learned person, scholar > [noun] > great doctora1382 Sorbonist1607 a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1965) Job Prol. l. 30 I haue remembred me liddeum a maner doctor þat anentis þe ebruys þe firste was wened..to han hirid. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 12577 (heading) How ihesus disputed wiþ þe doctours. ?1510 T. More tr. G. F. Pico della Mirandola Lyfe I. Picus sig. a.iii He scrupulously sought out all the famous doctours of his tyme. 1578 J. Rolland Seuin Seages Prol. 169 Of ane twme Twn, nane can draw out licour, Nor of ane fule to make a wise doctour. 1733 A. Pope Of Use of Riches 1 Who shall decide, when Doctors dis-agree? 1841 R. W. Emerson Intellect in Ess. 1st Ser. (London ed.) 327 The wisest doctor is gravelled by the inquisitiveness of a child. b. Any person who possesses a particular talent or skill; an expert. Usually with of. Cf. master n.¹ 16a. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [noun] > skilful person > a master or mistress masterc1430 mistressc1440 doctor1548 archemaster1570 graduate1582 pass-master1599 possessor1713 past master1840 past mistress1868 passed master1882 ustad1903 maestro1938 1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry V f. lxxxii This kyng..in marcial affaires a very doctor. 1602 S. Rowlands Greenes Ghost 18 He indeed was a doctor in his arte [of Cutpurses]. 1650 R. Elton Compl. Body Art Mil. To Author sig. †4 Mars doe's himself commense Doctor of War. 3. spec. a. Usually with capital initial. Any of several early Christian theologians and church fathers regarded as especially authoritative in the Western Church, on whose work much later church doctrine and theology is based. In later use also: any person who has been proclaimed Doctor of the Church by the Roman Catholic Church. See also Doctor of the Church n. at Phrases 1e. ΘΚΠ society > faith > aspects of faith > patristics > Fathers of the Church > [noun] doctorc1390 church father1654 Greek fathers1711 c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. xi. l. 293 Þe douȝtiest doctour..Austyn þe olde & hiȝeste of þe foure. c1440 Sir Degrevant (Thornton) (1949) l. 1463 (MED) Austyn and gregorius, Jerome and ambrosius, thir are þe foure doctours. 1552 Abp. J. Hamilton Catech. i. vii. f. 19 Autentyk doctours appreuit be y^e auctorite of haly kirk..as Hierome, Ambrose..Chrisostome. 1677 Compend. Narration Lady Mary 13 As soon as possible, after her delivery, she caused the Hymn of those eminent Saints and Doctors St. Ambrose and St. Augustine called te Deum to be said by her. 1888 J. A. Birkhaeuser Hist. Church ii. 153 The greatest luminary among the Oriental Doctors was St. Athanasius, surnamed the Great. 1997 L. J. Elders in Reception Church Fathers in West I. ix. 346 Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory and other Doctors are assigned fields in which they have a special competence. 2019 O. M. Espin Women, Sainthood, & Power ix. 144 Being named as a Doctor implies ‘a seal of approval’ from the Church for this person's teachings. b. One of the most prominent medieval scholastic theologians and philosophers. Also more fully scholastic doctor.Also as the second element of epithets of particular scholars, as in Angelic (or Angelical) Doctor, Irrefragable Doctor, Seraphic (or Seraphical) Doctor, Subtle (or Subtile) Doctor, etc.: see the first element. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > scholasticism > [noun] > adherent of > collectively doctora1513 schools1561 a1513 J. Irland Meroure of Wyssdome (1965) II. 106 The doctour subtil [sc. John Duns Scotus] in his buk of the sentens in the prologe inducis viii maner of wais to preif and persuaid the faith. 1671 R. Bohun Disc. Wind 39 The Lord Verulam himself being averse to this Caprice of the Scholastic Doctors, declares the Repercussion of Winds, from the cold of the Middle Region, to be of all other the vainest and most Irrationall Hypothesis. 1774 T. Reid Brief Acct. Aristotle's Logic iv. §6, in Ld. Kames Sketches Hist. Man II. iii. 215 The Scholastic Doctors..tortured..the modal syllogisms. 1855 H. H. Milman Hist. Lat. Christianity VI. xiv. iii. 449 Doctors, who assumed the splendid titles of the Angelical, the Seraphic, the Irrefragable [sc. Aquinas, Bonaventura, Alexander Hales]. 1925 Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. 40 237 It is hardly to be expected that the great doctors, Bonaventura and Aquinas, would indulge in the same realistic details as a subdean writing for a purely practical purpose. 2002 Renaissance Q. 55 482 Jerome, Erasmus claims, would have declared his contempt for scholastic doctors who were not interested in combining theology with eloquence. 4. a. A person who holds the highest degree awarded by a university faculty, graduate school, or other approved academic institution. Now usually: the holder of a postgraduate degree above the level of master; a person who holds a doctorate.Frequently with of specifying the faculty awarding the degree, as e.g. Doctor of Divinity, Doctor of Civil Law, Doctor of Laws, Doctor of (also †in) Medicine, Doctor of Music, etc. Recorded earliest in Doctor of Decrees n. See also Doctor of Philosophy n. at Phrases 1b. ΘΚΠ society > education > educational administration > university administration > taking degree or graduation > [noun] > degree holder master1380 bachelorc1386 doctorc1400 magister1459 sir1557 Dra1593 doctorate1651 baccalaur1661 baccalaureate1696 formed bachelor1738 middle bachelor1759 Mus.B.1801 PhD1839 diplomate1879 maid1881 Mus. Bac.1889 postdoctoral1962 postdoc1964 B.A.- B.L.- c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xv. l. 373 Doctoures of decres and of diuinite Maistres. a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) ii. sig. F.iii^v You y^t haue bene at learning so long, & are doctor. 1552 T. Wilson Rule of Reason (rev. ed.) sig. Kiij I harde ones a Doctor of Diuinitie, whiche was not so great in knowlege as he was in title. 1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 107 Many Medicasters, pretenders to Physick, buy the degree of Doctor abroad. 1684 London Gaz. No. 1945/4 Dr. Nic. Stagins..was..admitted to the Degree of Doctor of Musick. 1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1765 I. 272 Trinity College, Dublin, at this time surprized Johnson with a spontaneous compliment of the highest academical honours, by creating him Doctor of Laws. 1809 B. Parr London Med. Dict. I. 716/1 The highest medical honours, that is the degree of Doctor in Medicine, shall be conferred on him..as the reward of his diligence and study. 1843 E. Miall in Nonconformist 3 737 To make Prince Albert a doctor of laws. 1846 R. King Covenanters in North ii. 49 The University of Aberdeen withstood the siege of the more enlightened masses; and now at the dawn of a better day, its learned doctors..became the active antagonists of the new light. 1925 tr. J. Čapek in R. Eaton Best Continental Short Stories 1924–5 51 He obtained his doctorate while still very young; and, as soon as he had become a doctor, he immediately married a girl he loved. 1968 New Eng. Jrnl. Med. 15 Feb. 397/2 Langerhans's appearance before the faculty was..to ‘openly defend’ his ‘inaugural dissertation’ for the degree of Doctor of Medicine and Surgery. 1970 Presbyterian Herald Sept. 17 Citation by the Dean of the Faculty of Theology..on presenting John Herbert Withers for the degree of Doctor of Divinity. 2000 N. Henderson Old Friends & Mod. Instances (2001) xvi. 171 The University's Chancellor-elect would be proposing to the University that the Degree of Doctor of Civil Law, honoris causa, be conferred upon you at a special ceremony. 2019 R. Pistol in L. Allwork & R. Pistol Jews, Holocaust, & Public p. viii He sent me away with..a warning to remember that I could not just expect to walk into the viva, answer a few questions and walk out a doctor. b. As a title prefixed to the surname or full name of a person who has been awarded a doctoral degree. Formerly also: †as a title prefixed to the name of a person without a doctorate who has attained a similar level of academic proficiency (obsolete). Also as a form of address to such a person (now rare).In use as a title now usually written in the abbreviated form Dr (see Dr n.¹). ΚΠ 1501 in S. Tymms Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmunds (1850) 90 Mast^r Doctor Curteys, the pⁱor of the Fryers Austyns in Norwysche. 1563 G. Hay Confut. Abbote of Crosraguels Masse f. 10 For I ask of you Doctor, that taketh vpon you continual reading and meditation of the Scriptures, where ye do euer find any ordinance of God, set furth, to the which the Spirit of God giueth not a certane name. 1641 Doctours Last Will & Test. (title page) Being a most pleasant Dialogue between Doctor Cousin and a Fellow of his owne Colledge, desiring him to resigne his Mastership. 1785 ‘P. O'Flattery’ Beauties of Mr. Orde's Bill 55 He had..taken pains to trace out the distinction. He had even turned to Doctor Johnson's Dictionary for that purpose. 1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1778 II. 234 [Edwards:] Why Doctor you look stout and hearty. 1818 Gentleman's Mag. May 465/1 Doctor Benjamin Buckler, Fellow of All Souls College, and Custos Archivorum in the University of Oxford. 1895 ‘I. Maclaren’ Days Auld Lang Syne ii. v. 113 Doctor Davidson motioned to the Free Church minister to take his place at the head. 1956 Virginia Mag. Hist. & Biogr. 64 263 The first, to be edited by Doctor Jane Carson and Mr. Francis L. Berkeley, will be especially valuable to those who are interested in economic and commercial history. 2018 O. Yalnazov Precedent & Statute ii. 38 The most recent development of the theory comes from a contribution by Doctor Friedman and Professor Wickelgren. 5. A person who is extremely proficient in any of certain specified branches of knowledge; sometimes indicating that the person holds a doctorate in the subject, but often simply as a title of respect.The first sense in branch II. is another (and the most prominent) example of this sense. a. A learned authority on the law, esp. canon law or civil (Roman) law; (also) a lawyer qualified to practise civil law (civil law n. 1). Cf. Doctors' Commons n. Now rare.Until 1857, advocates practising in the Court of Arches were required to take the degree of doctor of law (cf. quot. 1588). ΘΚΠ society > law > jurisprudence > [noun] > legal knowledge or skill > one learned in the law legisterc1300 man of lawc1390 doctorc1400 legist?c1425 jurisconsultorc1550 lawyer?1566 Bartolist1602 jurisconsult1605 jurista1626 jurisprudent1628 legalist1771 jurisprudist1793 jurisprudentialist1827 c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xv. l. 238 Þat conscience and cryst hath yknitte faste, Þei vndon it vnworthily, þo doctours of lawe. a1475 J. Russell Bk. Nurture (Harl. 4011) in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 187 Doctur of bothe lawes, beynge in science digne. 1588 J. Udall State Church of Eng. sig. C3 Why did you not rather take some doctour of the Arches? 1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice iv. i. 143 This letter from Bellario doth commend a young and learned Doctor to our Court. View more context for this quotation 1724 A. Duck in C. J. de Ferrière & A. Duck Hist. Rom. or Civil Law xxxiv When the Constable and Marshal are otherwise employ'd by the Publick, some Doctor, or other expert Civilian, is appointed to preside in this Court. 1845 M. Pattison in Christian Remembrancer Jan. 82 When the judges and the accused had taken their places, the king, with the gravity of a doctor expounding ecclesiastical law, began [etc.]. 1890 R. F. Littledale in E. A. Towle A. H. Mackonochie 304 The majority of the judges always consisted of civilians and doctors who had specially studied canon and civil law. a1978 J. P. Cooper Land, Men & Beliefs (1983) iii. 48 Upton..cites Bartolus's belief that a doctor who taught civil law for ten years ranked as a knight. b. A person who is an authority on theology, a theologian; a learned clergyman, esp. one who holds the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > faith > aspects of faith > theology > theologian > [noun] > learned doctorc1450 cherub1547 worthy1567 agonist1573 c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 232 A clerke..diȝt as a Doctour in drabland wedis. a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) l. 518 (MED) Dyuers estatys Off doctours and off prelatys. ?1550 J. Bale Apol. agaynste Papyst f. l Y^e best of your doctours in expownynge the Scriptures. 1680 T. Otway Orphan ii. 12 Thanking a surly Doctor for his Sermon. 1752 G. Hamilton Disorders of Church 22 The Doctors amongst the Roman Catholics have been well appris'd of the importance of external forms to keep up in the minds of the people a veneration for their superstitious worship. 1872 J. Morley Voltaire v. 231 He..heard only the humming of the doctors, as they served forth to congregations of poor men hungering for spiritual sustenance the draff of theological superstition. 1911 R. Hughes Excuse Me! x. 85 ‘A reverend doctor?’ the little old lady repeated weakly. ‘Yes—a—a preacher?’. 1963 M. H. Black in S. G. Greenslade Cambr. Hist. Bible III. xii. 447 Eighteen doctors of the Sorbonne gave the text their unadvised approval. II. A physician or medical practitioner, and related senses. 6. a. Originally: an authority on medicine; a person who holds the highest class of degree awarded by the faculty of medicine of a university (cf. Doctor of Medicine at sense 4a, Doctor of Physic n. at Phrases 1c); a physician. In later use also: a person who is trained in other branches of medicine or surgery, esp. one holding a formal doctoral degree. Frequently with distinguishing word.The word doctor is less commonly used for medical professionals such as surgeons, veterinary surgeons, and dentists in places where bachelor's degrees are awarded in these fields, as in the United Kingdom.cancer doctor, cow doctor, eye doctor, etc.: see the first element. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > healer > physician > [noun] physician?c1225 leecherc1374 practiserc1387 doctora1400 flesh-leecha1400 leechman14.. mediciner?a1425 miria1425 M.D.1425 medicine?c1450 practitioner?1543 minister1559 doc1563 artist1565 medicus1570 medicianera1578 Aesculapius1586 Dra1593 pisspot1592 medician1597 physicianer1598 medicinary1599 pisspot1600 velvet-cap1602 healer1611 Galena1616 physiner1616 clyster1621 clyster-pipe1622 hakim1623 medic1625 practicant1630 medico1647 physicker1649 physicster1689 Aesculapian1694 nim-gimmer1699 pill-monger1706 medical man1784 meester1812 medical1823 pill-gilder1824 therapeutist1830 pill1835 pill roller1843 med1851 pill-peddler1855 therapeutic1858 squirt1859 medicine man1866 pill pusher1879 therapist1886 doser1888 internist1894 pill-shooter1911 whitecoat1911 quack1919 vet1925 a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 73 (MED) Þe doctryne of rasis, auicen, & galion, & of oþere doctouris. ?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) (1971) 383 (MED) In the curacioun..of þe lepre, the doctoures proposen communely [etc.]. 1561 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1916) XI. 205 To [a] Franche dochtour, for spicis to oppin the Erle of Huntleis bodie. 1602 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor iii. i. 94 Shall I lose my doctor? No, he giues me the motions And the potions. 1652 Mercurius Democritus No. 38. 299 The Doctors Prescribed him to take for his Cure every morning three Spoon-fulls of Nigget-Water. 1700 J. Dryden To my Kinsman J. Driden in Fables 96 So liv'd our Sires, e'er Doctors learn'd to kill. 1725 D. Defoe New Voy. round World i. 200 Our Doctors themselves, so we call the Surgeons at Sea. 1783 Ainsworth's Thes. Linguæ Latinæ (new ed.) ii Veterinarius, a farrier, a horse doctor. 1872 ‘G. Eliot’ Middlemarch I. ii. xv. 252 A common country doctor. 1915 Times 10 Aug. 5/6 I was called away to take charge of a fast small ship that was going to Gallipoli to fetch the wounded, as the regular doctor was ill. 1993 Time Out 31 Mar. 140/4 A crisis looms in the wards when an overworked junior doctor starts dozing off on duty. 2021 MailOnline (Nexis) 19 Feb. Only basic masks are currently being worn by doctors and nurses outside of intensive care. b. As a title of respect preceding the name of a person who is a physician or doctor of medicine or (esp. U.S. and in later use: see note at sense 6a) any other medical professional, such as a qualified dentist or veterinary surgeon. Also as a form of address to such a person.Frequently with capital initial. In use as a title now usually written in the abbreviated form Dr (see Dr n.¹). ΚΠ ?1537 T. Elyot Castell of Helthe ii. xxxii. f. 49 Rede the boke of Galene of the preseruation of helth..translated moste truely and eloquentely, oute of Greke into latine, by doctour Linacre, late phisition of moste worthy memory to our soueraygne lorde kynge Henry the eight. a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) i. iv. 3 My Master, Master Docter Caius. View more context for this quotation 1769 I. Bickerstaff & S. Foote Doctor Last in Chariot xi. 17 Skel. How do you sleep, Sir? Ail. Very indifferently, doctor; chiefly broken slumbers. 1819 Northampton Mercury 12 June Doctor Charlotte Von Siebold, the celebrated female accoucheur, employed in delivering her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent. 1876 Vermont Watchman 20 Dec. 1/3 Doctor, I knew when I sent for you that I was very sick and quite unable to cure myself. 1895 Trans. Illinois State Dental Soc. 31st Ann. Meeting 94 Oh, Doctor, I want you to fix my teeth. 1976 E. Taylor Blaming (1992) xvi. 171 But, of course, doctor, you know more about that than I could ever learn in a month of Sundays. 2010 Orange County (Calif.) Register 26 Apr. (Life section) 2/2 Hello, doctor! I was reading the directions for the pills you prescribed. 2016 J. R. Brown Georgia Peaches & Other Forbidden Fruit xxvi. 282 Doctor Klein has prescribed strict bed rest through the end of the year, maybe longer. c. colloquial. With the, in the genitive. A place or establishment where a doctor may be consulted. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > places for the sick or injured > [noun] > surgery or consulting-room examining room1775 doctor1808 doctor's office1809 doctor's surgery1842 consulting room1843 surgery1846 operatory1948 1808 Belfast Monthly Mag. Dec. 370/1 A friend who knew his situation, kindly offered to accompany him to the Doctor's, and give him his fee. 1897 Geelong Advertiser 29 May 6/7 At the Hairdresser's. I desire to be shaved... At the Doctor's. Good morning! I am not at all well. 1955 S. Plath Let. 4 Aug. (2017) I. 947 I am on my sweltering way to the doctor's to have both arms and a leg (perhaps) punctured for the second time. 2021 Sun (Nexis) 2 July I went to the doctor's and got put on antidepressants. d. A traditional healer and diviner, esp. one who claims to guard against or cure afflictions thought to be caused by spirit possession or witchcraft.Also as the second element of compounds, as in conjure doctor n., rain doctor n., root doctor n., spirit doctor n., etc. Cf. also witch doctor n. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > healer > alternative practitioner > [noun] > using magic ophiogenes1601 piai1613 witch doctor1718 dukun1817 piaiman1825 wizard1845 doctor1846 mganga1860 1846 H. E. A. Meyer Manners & Customs Aborigines Encounter Bay 9 The doctor sits in front of the patient with two sticks, one in each hand, beating the air. 1851 H. R. Schoolcraft Hist. & Statist. Information Indian Tribes U.S. I. xiv. 310 As the doctor sings several songs, he watches closely the patient, and finds out which song pleased. 1858 Compend. Kaffir Laws & Customs 123 Doctors are not entitled to fees, except a cure is performed, or the patient relieved. 1902 C. Lumholtz Unknown Mexico I. xvii. 311 He keeps his doctor busy curing him, not only to make his body strong to resist illness, but chiefly to ward off sorcery. 2008 R. W. Walker in W. T. Allison & S. J. Matt Dreams, Myths, & Reality xii. 260 The shaman entered into a trance. It was thought that the doctor's soul might thereby track the fugitive spirit. e. Chiefly North American. (The name of) a children's game in which the participants pretend to be doctors and patients and act out imagined medical scenarios; esp. such a game involving the participants exposing their genitals; hence in allusive use with reference to sexual role play between adults. Cf. doctors and nurses at Phrases 4.In quot. 1866, and some other uses with play, ‘doctor’ appears to refer to the role played rather than standing as a name for the game itself; cf. play v. 13d. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > children's game > other children's games > [noun] rosy apple1882 doctors and nurses (also patients)1906 doctor1918 knock down ginger1959 rat-a-tat ginger1959 riprap1959 rat-tat ginger1962 1866 Brooklyn Daily Eagle 11 June (advt.) This splendid gift plate is entitled Children Playing Doctor, as it vividly depicts the sports of juveniles..trying to simulate the actions of the invalid, the apothecary and the physician.] 1918 J. J. Putnam & M. Stevens tr. H. von Hug-Hellmuth in Psychoanalytic Rev. 5 216 The pronounced sexual note of the favorite game of ‘Doctor’, together with the erotic tinge..of early friendships between children, explain adequately the entrance of the memory-picture into consciousness. 1984 Wisconsin State Jrnl. 18 Mar. viii. 3/5 [Students] were told to write about their memories of sex games, from prepubescent curiosity games, (‘doctor’ or ‘show me’) to junior high school party games. 2003 Mirror (Nexis) 17 May 26 She took him to a rented apartment where they were joined by two other girls, dressed up as nurses for a game of doctor. 7. figurative. Applied to things believed to improve or preserve physical health. a. Chiefly colloquial. Used of anything considered beneficial for a person's health or conducive to recovery from illness or injury. Often humorously prefixed to a noun as if it were a person's surname (cf. sense 6b). ΚΠ 1558 W. Bullein Govt. Healthe f. li I should not staye my selfe vpon the opinion of any one phisicion, but rather vpon three... The first was called doctor diet, the seconde doctor quiet, the thirde doctor mery man. 1650 tr. Joannes de Mediolano Regimen Sanitatis Salerni (new ed.) 3 When Physick needs, let these thy Doctours be, Good dyet, quiet thoughts, heart mirthfull free. 1890 Deseret Weekly (Salt Lake City, Utah Territory) 22 Feb. 1/2 Oh! come Doctor Sunshine! We need something bright; Come, nature's grand cure-all, and set us all right. 1986 Yoga Jrnl. Mar.–Apr. 39/2 Nature, to the Taoist, is a reservoir of healing ch'i... The natural world itself is a great doctor. 2002 Financial Times 23 Nov. 42/6 Time is the best doctor. b. A wind that blows regularly in a particular location and is considered to have health-giving, refreshing, or cleansing properties, spec. (a) (in the West Indies and Western Australia) a cool sea breeze which blows on hot summer days; (b) (in South Africa) a strong, blustery south-east wind prevailing in the vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope.Frequently with a modifying word or place name, forming the name of a particular wind of this type, as in Cape doctor n., Albany doctor, Fremantle doctor, Southerly doctor, etc. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > [noun] > good health > state of being conducive to > that which is conducive to virtuea1393 quarta1400 non-natural1696 doctor1740 the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wind > [noun] > wind with reference to direction > wind blowing from the sea > in the tropics doctor1740 1740 Hist. Jamaica ii. 21 The People here give it [sc. the sea-breeze] the name of Doctor, and truly it deserves the Title. 1844 Knickerbocker 23 46 [In St Augustine, Florida] we were beginning the summer custom of gathering every morning to meet the ‘doctor’ (sea-breeze) on the square. 1856 F. Fleming Southern Afr. iv. 62 The South-easter, from blowing all pestilent vapours and effluvia out to sea..has obtained the local epithet of ‘the Doctor’. 1946 D. C. Peattie Road of Naturalist (U.K. ed.) ii. 28 That early breeze, sweet and cool, bestirs the heavy drowse like the trade wind in the tropics, that they call ‘the doctor’. 1992 D. Birkett Jella: Woman at Sea ii. 30 The wind evaporated the moisture and brought the temperature down with such beneficient effects that it was nicknamed ‘the Doctor’. 2015 C. Ace Corpse with Sapphire Eyes ii. 10 Christmas Day this year it was over thirty degrees in the morning—we couldn't wait for the Fremantle Doctor to blow in. c. An alcoholic drink taken for its medicinal, invigorating, or restorative properties, esp. rum and milk taken as a pick-me-up or to cure a hangover. Also: a drink of this. Now rare. ΚΠ 1820 National Advocate (N.Y.) 25 Dec. Doctor, rum and milk, diffusible and permanent stimuli. 1824 Spirit of Public Jrnls. for 1823 55 The Daffy bottles were recruited for the march, and each horseman gulped down a doctor, to counteract the effects of the raw morning air. 1861 Hills & Plains I. iii. 37 ‘I feel rather seedy still, indeed.’.. ‘Have one of my “doctors” now; it will do you no end of good.’ 1895 G. Chamier South-Sea Siren 206 Let's have a doctor. Joe! Fetch that rum and milk. 1965 Country Life 14 Oct. 951/3 This is better than what is called a ‘doctor’ (rum and milk) because you then dispense with taking spirit in the morning. †8. slang. A false or loaded die. to put the doctor upon (a person): to cheat (a person) using false or loaded dice; (hence sometimes more generally) to trick or dupe (a person). Obsolete (historical in later use). ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > dice-playing > [noun] > die or dice > false or loaded stop-dice1540 bar1545 flat1545 gourd1545 barred dicec1555 bristle-dicec1555 fulhamc1555 graviersc1555 high manc1555 langretc1555 low manc1555 cheat1567 dice of vantage?1577 demy1591 forger1591 squarier1592 tallmen?1592 stop cater trey1605 demi-bar1606 downhill1664 high runner1670 low runner1670 doctor1688 tat1688 uphill1699 cut1711 loaded dice1771 dispatcher1798 dispatch1819 miss-out1928 1688 T. Shadwell Squire of Alsatia i. i. 6 Hack... Pox o' the Tatts for me: I believe they put the Doctor upon me. Belf. Sen. Tatts, and Doctor! what's that? Sham. The Tools of Sharpers, false Dice. 1697 C. Cibber Womans Wit i. 8 The old Rogue..wou'd ha' put the Doctor upon me..(unknown to him) I flung away the Doctor, and clapt into the Box a Pair of True Mathematicks. 1699 T. Brown tr. Erasmus Seven New Colloquies v. 56 But did not this Physician put the Doctor upon you, as the saying is? Do you think this Account he gave of himself was true? 1722 Freeholder's Jrnl. 28 Sept. 230/1 And whether Jack Pudding did not put the Doctor upon a certain Person, when he cry'd out, Z——ds, l am catch'd? 1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones III. viii. xii. 260 Here are the Implements; here are the little Doctors which cure the Distempers of the Purse. View more context for this quotation 1801 Sporting Mag. 18 7 Loaded a couple of the Doctors for throwing a seven and nine. 1899 Pall Mall Mag. May 25 ‘I have my “doctors” here...’ With an attempt at laughter he pulled out the dice he had used so lately. †9. slang. Any of various substances used to ‘doctor’, improve, or adulterate food or drink, esp. in order to pass it off as a superior product; a drink which has been adulterated in this way. Also: (a name for) brown sherry. Obsolete. [Apparently applied to brown sherry with allusion to the fact that it was formerly made by adding a dark grape spirit to an inexpensive base wine to improve its flavour and increase its alcohol content.] ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > substances for food preparation > [noun] > improver or adulterant doctor1770 stuff1812 improver1835 rough1855 agene1921 the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > wine > fortified wine, Madeira wine, and sack > [noun] > sherry > types of sherry doctor1770 antimonial wine1771 Montilla1793 Paxarete1802 pale sherry1803 amontillado1804 golden sherry1830 manzanilla1843 fino1846 Bristol milk1848 brown sherry1849 solera1851 amoroso1859 brown1862 oloroso1876 Bristol cream1886 Tio Pepe1886 cream sherry1964 1770 C. Jenner Placid Man I. 84 The governor was as happy if he drank his Doctor next to a man who talked to him upon any thing. 1779 W. A. Smyth Publican's Guide 19 Reduce it again, and make use of the doctor. [Footnote] A chymical preparation, known also by the name of false-proof; which, by raising a bead, gives liquors an appearance of strength, that in reality they have not. 1824 J. Maton & J. Garrett Tricks of Bakers Unmasked 5/1 The Doctor, is what is vulgarly styled alum..the same quantity of alum is not always worked in a given proportion of flour, it varying according to the age and quality of the mixture for the manufacture of bread. 1863 T. G. Shaw Wine, Vine & Cellar iv. 136 Large quantities of this product [sc. fermented must reduced by boiling]..are used to colour and cover the harsh thinness of poor qualities. It is for this reason that it is called the Doctor. 1889 A. Barrère & C. G. Leland Dict. Slang I. 315/1 To ‘keep the doctor’ is said of a publican who retails adulterated drinks. 10. Any of various tropical marine fishes which comprise the genus Acanthurus (family Acanthuridae) and have a sharp pointed spine on either side of the base of the tail, esp. A. chirurgus; = doctor fish n. (a) at Compounds 3.Also called surgeonfish, tang. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > [noun] > suborder Acanthuroidei > member of family Acanthuridae (surgeon-fish) tang1735 doctor1775 unicorn acanthurus1803 lancet-fish1840 surgeon1855 surgeonfish1871 shoemaker1891 medico1902 1775 J. Rymer Sentiments on Reviewers ii, in Descr. Island of Nevis 41 Our steward dropt his fish-pots last night; they were hauled up this morning, and found to contain, doctors, old-wives, coblers, welsh-men, yellow bellies, balla hoos, parrot fish, and balloch-biters. 1844 C. Knight Pict. Museum Animated Nature II. 143/2 There is a group of fishes commonly termed ‘doctors’, in consequence of being provided with two very sharp and movable spines, like lancets. 1992 P. Constant Marine Life Galapagos ii. 39 Surgeonfishes (Acanthuridae). Get their name from scalpel like spines, located on each side of the caudal peduncle. They are also known as ‘doctors’ or ‘tang’. 11. Any of various fittings, devices, or substances used in industrial processes, typically to provide some kind of corrective or regulatory treatment or function. a. In machines used in various printing processes, papermaking, etc.: a knife, blade, scraper, or other component used to remove superfluous colour, fibre, etc., from a cylinder or other part of the machine. Often as a modifier, in doctor blade, doctor knife, etc.colour doctor, lint-doctor, etc.: see the first element. ΚΠ 1796 A. Wilde & J. Ridge Brit. Patent 2134 (1856) 1 Manufacturing..steel doctors for printers. 1837 N. Whittock et al. Compl. Bk. Trades (1842) 96 The polished surface is cleared by the scraper called the ‘doctor’. 1866 Illustr. & Descriptive Catal. Dublin Internat. Exhib. 1865 202/2 The roller is capable of adjustment in a lateral, and the breast beam, together with the doctor knife, in a vertical direction. 1940 U.S. Patent 2,185,859 1/2 The action is facilitated by supplying a controlled excess of the liquid suspension to the transfer surface and then removing the excess by means of a doctor. 1995 J. A. Hill et al. in Pigment Printing Handbk (Amer. Assoc. Textile Chemists & Colorists) ii. ii. 21 A metal doctor blade is used for removing excess print paste adhering to the surface of the roller. 2012 S. Kuwabara U.S. Patent Applic. Publ. 2012/0241203 1/1 In fig. 13, ‘12’ represents a doctor for scraping off excess catalyst ink. †b. A heated soldering iron or bit used in applying a thin coating of silver, gold, etc., to an object. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1833 J. Holland Treat. Manuf. Metal II. 316 A heated doctor, or soldering bit. 1893 Saddlery & Harness June 233/2 After this process of soldering (or rubbing the doctor all over the buckle), it is passed on to the rubber-in or tester. c. Chiefly U.S. More fully doctor engine. A small or auxiliary steam engine, esp. one for supplying water to a steamboat's boiler; a donkey engine. Now historical. ΚΠ 1849 Madison (Indiana) Weekly Courier 18 Apr. They put doctor engines in steamboats to make them run faster. 1875 ‘M. Twain’ Old Times Mississippi vii, in Atlantic Monthly Aug. 191/1 The engineers drowsed around and allowed chips to get into the ‘doctor’ and shut off the water supply from the boilers. 2018 S. T. Bisbee Engines of Rebellion i. 24 Doctor engines were equipped with at least one feedwater heater that used recirculated steam. d. A pad, sponge, or the like used in electroplating to apply a solution of metal to the piece to be plated. Now rare. ΚΠ 1886 A. Watt Electro-deposition xiv. 184 The pad, or ‘doctor’, as it is sometimes called, is dipped in the gold solution and applied to the part to be gilt. 1946 S. Field & A. D. Weill Electro-plating (ed. 5) xiii. 250 The solution in the ‘doctor’ can be replenished from time to time, and the defective area thus corrected. e. More fully doctor solution. Any of various liquids applied in industrial processes; esp. (in electroplating) a solution of metal applied to the piece to be plated (cf. sense 11d). ΚΠ 1911 Inland Printer May 264/1 In England it is customary for the photoengraver..to gum up the print well and then treat it with what they call a ‘doctor’. This doctor is a syrupy solution made of turpentine with as much beeswax added as it will soak up. 1948 Electroplating Sept. 561/2 5-6 seconds immersion of doctor is ample to secure a beautiful clean colour. 2004 R. E. Painter Troubleshooting Zinc Electroplating Baths 1 Feb. in pfonline.com (accessed 7 Sept. 2021) Is your bath low on carrier, high in brightener, out of balance, etc? Many suppliers have ‘doctor’ solutions. 12. slang (originally Nautical). Originally: a ship's cook. In later use also: a person employed to cook for gangs of outdoor workers, esp. (Australian and New Zealand) at a cattle or sheep station or (U.S.) a logging camp. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > cooking > cook > [noun] > ship's cook cook1466 sea-cook1707 doctor1803 slushy1859 potwalloper1890 society > travel > travel by water > one who travels by water or sea > sailor > sailors involved in specific duties or activities > [noun] > ship's cooks and assistants shifter1704 sea-cook1707 doctor1803 slushy1859 cook's mate1865 potwalloper1890 1803 J. Davis Trav. U.S.A. 430 Mr. Adams.—The steward and the doctor are quarrelling... Black-cook.—Who you call doctor? 1868 C. W. Browne Overlanding in Austral. v. 71 A good cook, or ‘doctor’, as he is called, is a necessary individual in camp. 1872 W. H. Thomes Whaleman's Adventures iv. 62 About that time the doctor was called to start a fire in his galley. 1893 I. K. Funk et al. Standard Dict. Eng. Lang. I Doctor..6. (Local, U.S.) The cook in a logging-camp. 1910 S. E. White Rules of Game xii. 70 ‘Where's the drive, doctor?’ asked the lumberman. ‘This is the jam camp,’ replied the cook. 1953 ‘Main Royal’ Not in Log 129 There was no sign of ‘the doctor’, as a sailing-ship's cook is usually called. 13. colloquial. A person who is employed or may be engaged to give specialist advice or help. Chiefly as the second element of compounds, forming nouns with the sense ‘a person who repairs, maintains, advises on, or improves the thing specified in the first element’, as bike doctor, car doctor, golf doctor, etc.play-doctor, saw-doctor, script doctor, spin doctor: see the first element. ΚΠ 1857 S. Smiles Life George Stephenson vi. 44 Stephenson's skill as an engine-doctor soon became noised abroad, and he was called upon to prescribe remedies for all the old, wheezy, and ineffective pumping-machines in the neighbourhood. 1899 Daily News 2 Mar. 9/1 Shipping ‘Doctors’..The owner, nervous about a vessel, wants a further insurance, and the ‘doctor’ procures it for him... The ‘doctor’ is a broker who deals particularly with the overdue vessels. 1933 Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, New S. Wales) 4 July (6/4 advt.) That cycle you want for the season can do with an overhaul—bring it to Bob John, the Bike Doctor. 1957 Country Life 7 Feb. 244/1 I never had much opinion of myself as even the most amateurish golf doctor. 2003 Maximum PC June 24/3 We end our primer with a FAQ that addresses the videocard-related questions most often received by our resident PC doctor. 2013 L. Freedman Encycl. Stock Car Racing ii. 701 His car had been prepared by the superior mechanic Red Vogt, the finest early-days car doctor around. 14. Angling. A type of artificial fishing fly.Chiefly with modifying word specifying the predominant colour of the fly, as in blue doctor, silver doctor n., black doctor n. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > means of attracting fish > [noun] > artificial fly > types of moor flylOE drake-flya1450 dub-flya1450 dun cut1496 dun fly1496 louper1496 red fly1616 moorish fly1635 palmer1653 palmer fly1653 red hackle1653 red palmer1653 shell-fly1653 orange fly1662 blackfly1669 dun1676 dun hackle1676 hackle1676 mayfly1676 peacock fly1676 thorn-tree fly1676 turkey-fly1676 violet-fly1676 whirling dun1676 badger fly1681 greenfly1686 moorish brown1689 prime dun1696 sandfly1700 grey midge1724 whirling blue1747 dun drake?1758 death drake1766 hackle fly1786 badger1787 blue1787 brown-fly1787 camel-brown1787 spinner1787 midge1799 night-fly1799 thorn-fly1799 turkey1799 withy-fly1799 grayling fly1811 sun fly1820 cock-a-bondy1835 brown moth1837 bunting-lark fly1837 governor1837 water-hen hackle1837 Waterloo fly1837 coachman1839 soldier palmer1839 blue jay1843 red tag1850 canary1855 white-tip1856 spider1857 bumble1859 doctor1860 ibis1863 Jock Scott1866 eagle1867 highlander1867 jay1867 John Scott1867 judge1867 parson1867 priest1867 snow-fly1867 Jack Scott1874 Alexandra1875 silver doctor1875 Alexandra fly1882 grackle1894 grizzly queen1894 heckle-fly1897 Zulu1898 thunder and lightning1910 streamer1919 Devon1924 peacock1950 1860 C. M. Yonge Hopes & Fears in Constit. Press Feb. 352 Lucilla..was soon eloquent on the merits of the doctor, the butcher, the duchess, and all her other radiant fabrications of gold pheasant's feathers, parrot plumes, jay's wings, and the like. 1895 Daily News 22 Aug. 6/2 With fine tackle and a very small Blue Doctor. 1935 North Devon Jrnl. 31 Mar. 6/3 On a rising water the ‘doctor’ fly should be called in. 1947 Sports Afield Jan. 18/3 Will we try 'im on a Doctor or a Jock Scott? 2010 M. D. Radencich 20 Salmon Flies vi. 99 The Silver Wilkinson..falls into a subclass of silver-bodied salmon flies that includes the Helmsdale Doctor, Silver Doctor, and Blue Doctor. Phrases P1. Noun phrases with of. a. Doctor of Decrees n. a person who holds a higher degree in canon law; a Doctor of Canon Law (now historical). [Compare post-classical Latin doctor decretorum (14th cent. in a British source; also in continental sources), also doctor in decretis (14th cent. in British and continental sources), Anglo-Norman doctour de decrees (14th cent.), Middle French docteur en decret (15th cent.).] ΚΠ c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xv. l. 373 Doctoures of decres and of diuinite Maistres. ?1585 W. Phiston tr. S. de Voyon Testimonie True Church of God 112 Thirdly, the doctors of decrees and decretals. 1691 A. Wood Athenæ Oxonienses I. 548 Tho. Langton Doctor of Decrees succeeded him, as I shall anon tell you. 1888 Scot. Rev. 11 404 In the oldest Faculties—those of Law—we have the degrees of Doctor of Laws in the Faculty of the Civil Law, and Doctor of Decrees in the Faculty of the Canon Law. 1914 Aberdeen Jrnl. 29 July 5/1 He had studied in Paris and there taken the degree of Doctor of Decrees. 2013 P. Heath Eng. Parish Clergy iv. 54 One who probably saw little of his parishioners was Thomas Martyn, Doctor of Decrees, in 1510 official of the archdeacon of Salisbury. b. Doctor of Philosophy n. (also with lower-case initials) a person who has been awarded the highest class of degree for original academic research, now typically involving three or more years of postgraduate study at a university or other academic institution culminating in the writing of a dissertation or thesis, which is defended before experts in the field; (also) a degree qualification or course of this type, a doctorate. Often abbreviated as PhD n. or (less commonly) D.Phil.In the medieval universities of continental Europe, the title given to holders of the highest degree in the Faculty of Arts was Magister Artium (Master of Arts), while holders of the highest degree in the other faculties (Theology, Medicine, and Law) were styled Doctor. This inconsistency was addressed in the mid 17th cent. with the introduction of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Philosophiae Doctor) in place of Magister Artium in German universities (in which the Faculty of Arts was known as the philosophische Fakultät); like other doctoral degrees at this time, it was awarded for advanced scholarship rather than original research. By the early 19th cent. the Faculty of Philosophy in German universities had come to house all subjects now commonly known as sciences and humanities, and began to demand original contributions to research, attested by a dissertation, for the award of Doctor of Philosophy (or PhD) in any of these fields. The research-based PhD on the German model was subsequently adopted in various parts of the English-speaking world: the degree was first awarded in the United States by Yale University in 1861 and was adopted by U.K. universities in 1917. [Compare post-classical Latin doctor philosophiae (16th cent., as an equivalent term to magister).] ΚΠ 1651 T. Fuller et al. Abel Redevivus 236 He was in this University [sc. Heidelberg] advanced unto the degree of Master of Arts or Doctor of Philosophy in the yeer 1513. 1732 London Evening-Post 23–25 May The great Hall of Hercules being magnificently hung and adorn'd on Purpose, she [sc. Italian physicist Laura Bassi] was promoted to the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with the usual Formalities. 1861 Trumansburg (N.Y.) News 2 Aug. At the commencement of Yale College, New Haven, July 25th, the degree of Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) was conferred on three graduates only. 1949 Gen. Reg. (Univ. Michigan) ix. 194 They must pass the same qualifying examination as applicants for the Doctor of Philosophy in History. 2021 @Clare_Brock 28 Aug. in twitter.com (accessed 1 Sept. 2021) I'm not a medical doctor, I'm a doctor of philosophy. c. Doctor of Physic n. (also with lower-case initials) now historical a person who holds the highest class of degree awarded by the faculty of medicine of a university; = Doctor of Medicine at sense 4a. ΚΠ c1405 (c1387–95) G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 413 With vs ther was a Doctour of Phisyk. 1421 Petition in Rotuli Parl. (1767–77) IV. 158/1 That no man..practyse in Fisyk..but he be Bacheler or Doctour of Fisyk, havynge Lettres testimonyalx sufficeantz of on of those degrees of the Universite. 1547 A. Borde Breuiary of Helthe ii. f. xxiii^v I do saye that an vrine is a strumpet, or an harlot, for it wyll lye & the best doctor of phisicke of them all: maye be deceiued in an vrine. 1627 Articles enquired Diocesse of Carlile sig. B3 What Physician or Chyrurgion is in your parish vnlicensed, and beeing not a Doctor of Physicke in either of the Vniuersities, doth practise physike? 1849 T. Carlyle Reminisc. Irish Journey (1882) 44 An aged, rather vain, and not very deep-looking doctor of physic..came personally to ‘drive me out’. 2009 I. Mortimer Dying & Doctors (2015) 205 In the past this would be characterised as the rich employing doctors of physic and the less well-off employing ‘quacks’. d. † Doctor of the Chair n. (also with lower-case initials) Obsolete a professor; the holder of a university chair in a specified faculty or subject. Cf. chair n.¹ 6b. ΘΚΠ society > education > teaching > teacher > university or college teacher > [noun] > professor professorc1400 Doctor of the Chair1528 professoress1744 associate professor1812 adjoint professor1828 full professor1852 1528 J. Skelton Honorificatissimo: Replycacion agaynst Yong Scolers sig. A.ii. They tumble so in Theology Drowned in dregges of Diuinite That they iuge them selfe able to be Doctours of the Chayre in the Vyntre. a1635 T. Randolph Muses Looking-glasse ii. iv. 37 in Poems (1638) Thou shalt be Doctor o' th' chaire. 1659 J. Rushworth Hist. Coll. 62 A Sermon preached by Robert Abbot, Doctor of the Chair in Oxford. 1700 S. Scattergood Twelve Serm. ix. 133 An extraordinary Respect and Veneration from the common People, who looked upon them as infallible Doctors of the Chair. 1809 E. Christian in Blackstone's Comm. Laws Eng. (ed. 15) I. i. xi. 392 The chancellor, vice-chancellor, commissary, doctors of the chair..and readers of lectures. 1847 C. Roger Collation of Principal Engl. Transl. Sacred Script. 57 Soon after being installed Doctor in Divinity, he was appointed Regius Professor, or Doctor of the Chair. e. Doctor of the Church n. (a title given to) any of a number of Christian theologians and church fathers whose writings and teachings are recognized to have had a significant influence on Christian theology and doctrine.Originally and chiefly used of the four ‘Latin Doctors’ of the Western Church, St Augustine of Hippo, St Jerome, St Ambrose, and St Gregory the Great (as named in Roman Catholic canon law). In 1568 the title was also given by Pope Pius V to St Athanasius of Alexandria, St Basil of Caesarea, St Gregory of Nazianzus, and St John Chrysostom, the four ‘Greek Doctors’ of the Orthodox Churches (although these churches do not use the title). Since the 16th cent. many more individuals have acquired the designation by formal proclamation of the Roman Catholic Church in recognition of their contribution to the development of its doctrine, including Thomas Aquinas, Teresa of Ávila, and the Venerable Bede. [After post-classical Latin doctores ecclesiae (5th or 6th cent.). Compare also Middle French docteurs de sainte eglise, docteurs de l'eglise (both 14th cent.).] ΚΠ 1565 J. Calfhill Aunswere Treat. Crosse f. 121^v Hierome a doctor of the Church writeth [etc.]. 1686 tr. J. B. Bossuet Disc. Hist. Whole World 118 He hearkened to St. Ambrose, the famous Doctor of the Church, who reproved him for his passion. 1730 Lit. Jrnl. Apr.–June 283 He grounded this opinion upon the authority of the antient Doctors of the Church, and particularly upon that of St. Jerom. 1842 Essex Standard 6 May These men have deserted the teaching of those early Doctors of the Church, by which they profess to be guided. 1970 Times 5 Oct. 5/3 The Pope today proclaimed St. Catherine of Siena, the patron saint of Italy, a Doctor of the Church. 2000 in D. S. Armentrout & R. B. Slocum Episcopal Dic. of Church 390/1 The patristic period was the time of many of the great Doctors of the Church, who have been recognized for their theological significance and personal holiness. 2020 G. Quicke Spiritual Discov. Christians Middle East iii. 36 The group of 36 Doctors of the Church includes four women and two Oriental Christians. f. doctor of the law n. (also with capital initials) an authority on religious law, spec. (in the New Testament) a teacher and interpreter of the Mosaic Law (cf. lawyer n. 1b). Chiefly in plural. [In specific use after post-classical Latin legis doctor (New Testament, translating Hellenistic Greek νομοδιδάσκαλος).] ΚΠ c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Luke v. 17 There were Pharisees sittinge, and doctours of the lawe [L. legis doctores], that camen of ech castel of Galilee, and of Judee. 1565 T. Harding Confut. Apol. Church of Eng. ii. vii. f. Miiij^v What Keie had the Doctours of the Lawe, sauinge the Exposition of the Lawe? 1645 H. Hammond Pract. Catech. ii. i 158 The Pharisees as the most exact sect among the Jewes,..and the Scribes, as the Doctors of the law, and those that knew better what belonged to it then other men. 1888 B. Pick in Library Mag. Mar. 247 The last Doctors of the Law in the chain of Rabbinistic succession. 1936 Eccl. Rev. Aug. 136 The gospel speaks frequently of Scribes and Doctors of the Law. 2013 C. B. Gray & M. Tebbitt Philos. of Law 452 The doctors of the law were not members of a bureaucratic order. P2. colloquial (originally and chiefly U.S.). you're (also you are) the doctor: used to indicate that the speaker defers to the judgement of the person addressed; ‘you're the expert’, ‘it's your decision’. ΚΠ 1836 N.Y. Herald 29 July M. I think a month's incarceration would do you good. F. Well, you're the doctor; but I should like to hint an honest difference of opinion. 1896 Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago) 2 Feb. 31/2 Very well, Jack, you're the doctor. 1912 Outlook 13 Apr. 829/1 But you know you're the doctor. What you say goes. 1969 C. Young Todd Dossier 120 The thing to do now was relax..and forget about it. ‘Okay, you're the doctor,’ Charlie said. 2003 N.Y. Times 29 Apr. d4/1 He told me he had a good one from Panama and I said: ‘Bob, you're the doctor. I'll take him.’ P3. colloquial what the doctor ordered: something which meets a particular need, esp. one which has been previously expressed, or (more generally) which is very beneficial or desirable. Often as just what the doctor ordered. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > advantage > [noun] > an advantage, benefit, or favourable circumstance > a benefit > that makes happy or prosperous > a beneficial or desirable thing good thing1745 what the doctor ordered1873 just the job1943 1873 Sporting Gaz. 22 Mar. 196/1 The race proved to be exactly what ‘the doctor ordered’. 1882 Globe (Atchison, Kansas) 14 Oct. Everybody knows what patience and self control is required..when the operator must go into the cellar for one piece of pipe, to the barn for another, and then hunt the premises over for an elbow or two, and after all is together in nice shape, and you think you have just what the doctor ordered, find that it is about a foot short. 1903 ‘T. Collins’ Such is Life 209 Physically, not one in ten of us is what the doctor ordered. 1948 G. Vidal City & Pillar i. i. 16 The waiter brought her a drink. ‘Just what the doctor ordered,’ she said, smiling at him. 1950 P. G. Wodehouse Nothing Serious 61 ‘You admired my little friend?’ ‘She is what the doctor ordered.’ 2016 Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois) 16 Mar. 6/1 Sometimes cake is just what the doctor ordered. P4. doctors and nurses (also patients) and variants: (the name of) a children's game in which the participants pretend to be doctors and nurses (or patients) and act out imagined medical scenarios; esp. such a game involving the participants exposing their genitals; hence in allusive use with reference to sexual role play between adults. Cf. sense 6e.In quot. 1863, and some other uses with play, the reference appears to be to the roles played rather than the name of a game; cf. play v. 13d. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > children's game > other children's games > [noun] rosy apple1882 doctors and nurses (also patients)1906 doctor1918 knock down ginger1959 rat-a-tat ginger1959 riprap1959 rat-tat ginger1962 1863 Evening Mail 20 May 3/6 A group of little urchins, playing at doctor and patient.] 1906 F. P. Stearns Life & Genius N. Hawthorne x. 218 His two children playing a serio-comic game of doctor and patient, in the adjoining room. 2000 I. Pattison Stranger here Myself (2001) ii. 66 Boys at school made reference to their sexual experimentation with their sisters, Doctors and Nurses and such. 2006 Guardian 17 June (Guide Suppl.) 50/4 (advt.) F profess,..complementary health therapist..WLTM warm & sensual F to play ‘doctors & nurses’ with. P5. Australian and New Zealand colloquial. to go for the doctor: to go at full speed; to apply or commit oneself wholeheartedly to something.In quot. 1907, perhaps more literally in the sense ‘to fetch a doctor’ (cf. to go for —— 1a at go v. Phrasal verbs 2). ΘΚΠ the world > movement > rate of motion > swiftness > move swiftly [verb (intransitive)] > go at full speed to burn the earth or windc1275 streekc1380 career1647 streak1768 streak1834 score1858 to go eyes out1863 to go for the doctor1907 the world > action or operation > manner of action > vigour or energy > act or do vigorously [verb (intransitive)] > act in thoroughgoing manner to go the whole hog1825 to go the whole figure1831 to go the whole (also entire, etc.) animal1833 to go for the doctor1907 1907 Daily Tel. (Sydney) 29 July 5/1 The riders of Anatroff and Set Free appeared to think they had special orders ‘to go for the doctor’, and after the pace they set in front it was not surprising that their mounts knocked up at the end of seven furlongs. 1913 Truth (Brisbane) 14 Dec. 3/3 This is not Page's usual way of riding, for he is inclined to go for the doctor, and make every post a winning post. 1971 P. Newton Ten Thousand Dogs 112 Anyway Jim knew what he had to beat and ‘he went for the doctor’ and turned in a winning run. 2018 Austral. Financial Rev. (Nexis) 19 Jan. (Life & Leisure section) 14 If you want to go for the doctor, and perhaps chase down a Porsche 911 or two, it's the RS model you'll be looking at. Compounds (Chiefly in sense 6a.) C1. a. General use as a modifier, as in doctor fees, doctor jargon, doctor training, etc. ΚΠ 1833 D. H. Whitney Family Physician ii. 149 It was essential to understand these in order to practice successfully, and in doctor style. 1922 Rep. Divisional Land Settlement State Calif. 30 Serious illness for several months and doctor fees. 1933 Soviet Union Rev. 11 187/2 The Moscow Institute has become an all-Union center for supplementary doctor training. 1962 Sunday Times 10 June 6/2 The Minister of Health, Mr Enoch Powell, has been challenged..on the statistics he produced to show ‘that there is no growing doctor shortage.’ 2011 S. Maloney Twenty Six 166 The only thing left to keep him from being discredited was his use of the right doctor jargon. 2013 K. Murrow Busting Loose vii. 83 None of that illegible doctor scrawl crap she always heard jokes about. b. With other nouns, with the sense ‘that is both a doctor and a ——’, as in doctor-barber, doctor-farrier, doctor-surgeon, etc. ΚΠ 1638 J. Ford Fancies v. 70 Some Doctor-Farriers are of opinion that the Mare may cast a Foale. a1785 J. Hall-Stevenson Wks. (1795) II. 185 Here end the bleedings and purgings Of the ghastliest of doctor surgeons. 1856 Home Friend Mar. 288 The head is then covered with ointment and bandaged, and the doctor-barber visits his patient No. 3. 1875 Chem. News 29 Jan. 52/1 Emile Budde, doctor chemist, Auteuil, Paris. 1972 R. H. Woolsey Flying Doctor of Philippines i. 15 Bill had also followed the fortunes and misfortunes of David Livingstone, doctor-explorer of the African continent. 2010 E. W. Lovrien Doctor Guilt? 55 In 1964, Dr. Judith Pool, a doctor-scientist at Stanford University discovered cryoprecipitate (cryo), which was effective in treating bleeds in hemophilia. c. With past participles with the sense ‘by or by means of a doctor or doctors’, as in doctor-approved, doctor-prescribed, doctor-recommended, etc. ΚΠ 1928 Bull. Amer. Libr. Assoc. Sept. 424/1 The doctor-prescribed diets aid in the patients' physical welfare. 1952 Washington Post 25 May 6 l/5 The second annual summer youth program features individual instruction, balanced nutrition and doctor-supervised health care. 1990 Internat. Jrnl. Epidemiol. 19 834/2 Although the hypertension is self-reported it is ‘doctor-diagnosed’ in a well-educated population intensely interested in health. 2014 Atlanta Jrnl.-Constit. (Nexis) 3 Aug. 16 e The most common doctor-recommended supplements for seniors are calcium and vitamins D and B-12. C2. As a modifier or (more usually) in the genitive, designating a formal certificate signed by a doctor, stating the results of a medical examination; now often spec. designating such a certificate as prepared for submission to an employer, confirming that an employee is unable to work due to illness or injury, as in doctor's certificate, doctor's line, doctor's note, etc. ΚΠ 1711 Evening Post 21 June Her Majesty upon their humble Petition, and the Doctor's Certificate of their ill State of Health, was graciously pleas'd to order the Attorney General to consent to their being bailed. 1818 Rules & Regulations to be observed by Members of United Brotherly Soc. 8 If any member be sick or lame, so as to be disabled from following his employment.., he shall..make verbal declaration thereof to the stewards... The stewards may request a doctor's certificate when necessary. 1838 Woolmer's Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 28 Apr. The..men..are also deprived of the privilege of..a doctor's note when sick. 1855 Lamp 15 Dec. 806/2 ‘Has he been long sick?’ I asked. ‘He'll be sax weeks, Sabbath coming.’ ‘Have you a “doctor's line”?’ 1973 Times 16 Apr. 1/4 The child,..who has eczema and cannot be vaccinated, had a doctor's letter instead [of a smallpox vaccination certificate]. 1994 Bangor (Maine) Daily News (Nexis) 10 Sept. The chief's most recent doctor note indicates that he will be out of work until the first week of October. 2019 Irish Times (Nexis) 16 July (Health section) 4 While employers may still ask for a doctor's certificate to cover an absence, the ongoing shortage of GPs means workers can struggle to get an appointment. C3. doctor-assisted suicide n. the process by which a person who is terminally ill or suffering from an incurable condition voluntarily ends his or her life with the assistance of a doctor (whose role is typically to provide a lethal dose of a drug at the explicit request of the mentally competent patient); = physician-assisted suicide n. at physician n. Compounds 2. ΘΚΠ the world > life > death > killing > suicide > [noun] > types of sati1806 satiism1828 hara-kiri1856 junshi1871 seppuku1871 ritual suicide1903 murder-suicide1904 autocide1923 mass suicide1937 doctor-assisted suicide1975 self-deliverance1975 self-deliveration1975 assisted suicide1976 suicide by cop1986 bullycide2001 1975 Lebanon (Pa.) Daily News 16 Sept. 17/5 He clarifies comprehensively and point by point your right to refuse lifesaving treatment and, in special circumstances, even your right to doctor-assisted suicide. 1998 D. C. Thomasma et al. Asking to Die iii. i. 487 Oregon became the first state in the U.S. (in November, 1994) to legalize doctor-assisted suicide by providing that mentally competent adults with fewer than six months to live can request from their doctors lethal doses of oral medication. 2015 Sunday Times 7 June 14/2 She decided on a pre-emptive doctor-assisted suicide in order to avoid any further irreversible suffering. doctor box n. a box in a printing machine or similar apparatus which contains a supply of ink, pigment, etc., and of which a doctor (sense 11a) forms part. ΚΠ 1860 R. Hunt Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 5) I. 512 This doctor box takes but little room, and wastes but little colour, but is only used for the uppermost rollers. 1981 Brit. Patent 1,584,698 4/1 The printing station is a driven screen printing stencil with a dye pipe and an inner colour doctor box. 2019 U.S. Patent 2019/0176375 A1 1/1 The fiber reinforced polymer material is made as a continuous sheet wherein a resin paste is transferred to a doctor box where it is deposited onto a moving carrier film passing directly beneath. doctor fish n. (a) any of various tropical marine fishes which comprise the genus Acanthurus (family Acanthuridae) and have a sharp pointed spine on either side of the base of the tail, esp. A. chirurgus; = sense 10; (b) either of two small cyprinid fishes, Garra rufa and Cyprinion macrostomum, which can feed on the outermost layer of human skin and are widely used in pedicure and the treatment of skin diseases. ΚΠ 1815 M. G. Lewis Jrnl. 1815–16 31 Dec. in Jrnl. W. India Proprietor (1834) 50 Its name is the ‘Doctor Fish’. 1907 A. E. Verrill Bermuda Islands I. (Suppl. ed. 2) 574 (caption) Blue Doctor-fish, Blue Tang (Teuthis cœruleus). 1989 Lancet 4 Nov. 1093/2 The pools contain three types of fish, known locally as strikers, jabbers, and lickers... All the bathers we spoke to were enthusiastic about the doctor fish. 2011 Observer 1 May 13/4 The practice of using Garra rufa fish—often called ‘doctor fish’—to heal skin dates back over 400 years. 2017 Marine Ecol. Progress Ser. 580 41/1 A number of fisheries regulations have been put in place across Belize to protect exploited species. These include..a complete ban on the harvest of..acanthurids (tang/surgeonfish/doctorfish). doctor gum n. any of several tropical trees, esp. the poisonwood Metobium toxiferum, having gum resin formerly used as a purgative and emetic; (also) the gum itself; cf. hog gum n. ΚΠ 1825 A. P. de Candolle Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis II. 67 R[hus] Metopium... Doctor-gum. 1912 T. E. Thorpe Dict. Appl. Chem. (rev. ed.) III. 23/2 The result is that the gum may differ considerably in properties. Hog or Doctor gum consists of reddish tears. 1995 T. E. Anderson Poison Ivy, Oak & Sumac Bk. vii. 89 The Florida Poisonwood Tree (Metopium toxiferum—native to Central America and the Caribbean—has colonized Florida as far north as Daytona Beach... Also known as Coral Sumac, Hog Gum, and Doctor Gum, its resinous gum is emetic, purgative, and diuretic. † doctor-monger n. Obsolete rare (a nickname for) a member of a sect of the Lollards. ΚΠ c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 87 Summe of ȝou ben clepid Doctour-mongers. doctor–patient adj. designating or relating to the relationship between a doctor and a patient, or doctors and patients generally; cf. patient–doctor adj. at patient adj. and n. Compounds 2. ΚΠ 1928 New Eng. Jrnl. Med. 19 July 161/2 The doctor-patient relation can be regarded as a fiduciary relationship. 1983 L. Thomas Youngest Sci. vi. 59 The doctor-patient relationship was, for better or worse, a long conversation in which the patient was at the epicenter of concern and knew it. 2019 Times of India (Nexis) 24 Sept. Effective doctor-patient communication gives patients a sense of being heard and allowed to express their concerns. † doctor's curse n. Obsolete rare (a nickname for) a dose of calomel (see calomel n.). ΚΠ 1821 P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 226 I..took the doctor's curse, or, in other words, a dose of calomel. doctor's gum n. now rare any of several tropical trees having gum resin formerly used medicinally; (also) the gum itself; = doctor gum n. ΚΠ 1847 R. E. Griffith Med. Bot. 186 The R [hus] metopium, a West India species, furnishes a gum known as ‘Doctor's gum,’ which, in large doses, is emeto-cathartic, and is said in smaller ones, to be a useful remedy in disorders of the bowels and respiratory organs. 1887 C. A. Moloney Sketch Forestry W. Afr. 279 Hog or Doctor's gum, Gamboge tree (Symphonia globulifera). 1946 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 31 Aug. 298/1 Flourishing throughout the open spaces of the Bahama Islands and in southernmost Florida (where it is also known as ‘doctor's gum’), has attracted little attention outside the immediate vicinity. doctor's mandate n. British Politics a mandate given by an electorate authorizing a government to take whatever measures are necessary to deal with some extreme or critical situation.Originally with reference to appeals for a government of national unity in the General Election of 1931. [With allusion to the idea that a government must respond urgently and autonomously in a crisis, as a doctor does in a medical emergency.] ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > [noun] > a representative assembly > fact of representing or being represented > mandate > type of doctor's mandate1931 1931 Evening Tel. (Dundee) 28 Sept. 4/4 What Mr MacDonald will ask for can be described as a ‘doctor's mandate’. 1973 Times 17 Dec. 15/1 Some of the substantial voices that now call for a doctor's mandate from the people who stand close enough to the Prime Minister for him to feel the full cogency of their persuasions. 1991 20th Cent. Brit. Hist. (BNC) 20 There is some evidence that it was Snowden who suggested the formula of the ‘doctor's mandate’..under which the component parts of the National Government were each to issue their own manifestos. doctor's office n. chiefly North American a room or establishment where a doctor treats or advises patients; cf. doctor's surgery n. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > places for the sick or injured > [noun] > surgery or consulting-room examining room1775 doctor1808 doctor's office1809 doctor's surgery1842 consulting room1843 surgery1846 operatory1948 1809 Balance & N.Y. State Jrnl. 14 Nov. (advt.) An upper-room..suitable for a Lawyer's or a Doctor's Office. 1827 Ariel (Philadelphia) 14 Apr. I lived..near the Doctor's office.., where I had an opportunity of witnessing many of his wonderful cures. 1931 Amer. Mercury Feb. 194/1 One of the boys fell beneath the trucks..and would perhaps have died from loss of blood had not a member of the train crew corded the limb until the boy could be taken to a doctor's office. 2011 D. Richards Real Girl Next Door x. 231 My parents..took me to the doctor's office on the morning of the surgery. doctorspeak n. somewhat depreciative a style of writing and speaking considered characteristic of doctors and other medical professionals, esp. in containing technical jargon or being obfuscatory. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > a language > register > [noun] > jargon > used by other groups indenture Englisha1568 water language1702 jockeyism1802 slum1812 Polari1846 stable-language1856 scientificism1860 water-slang1860 Oxfordish1863 galley-slang1867 pitmatic1885 commercialese1910 legalese1911 academese1917 Hollywoodese1920 businessese1921 Hollywoodism1925 trade unionese1927 advertisingese1929 officese1935 sociologese1940 Whitehallese1940 Newspeak1949 patter1949 Pentagonese1950 educationese1958 computerese1960 managementese1961 spacespeak1963 computer-speak1968 techno-jargon1972 business-speak1973 Eurospeak1975 Euro-jargon1976 technospeak1976 doctorspeak1977 corporate-speak1978 medspeak1979 mellowspeak1979 technobabble1981 teenspeak1982 management-speak1986 codespeak1987 1977 Cullman (Alabama) Times 5 Oct. 5/3 Doctorspeak is that peculiar language spoken by hospital personnel and doctors which carefully conceals a patient's true condition. 1996 J. Graedon & T. Graedon People's Pharmacy (new rev. ed.) ii. 32 Most of these medications actually cause more dangerous heart rhythms than they cure. In doctorspeak, they are ‘pro-arrhythmic’. 2019 Sunday Times (Nexis) 14 July (Mag.) There's no treatment [for measles]. Management is basically ‘supportive’, which is doctorspeak for helping you with your breathing while your body attempts to fight off this virus. doctor's stuff n. (also doctor-stuff) colloquial (now rare) medicine, medication. ΚΠ 1773 R. Graves Spiritual Quixote III. x. xvii. 131 The man said, ‘..he could not take Doctor's stuff, if he died for it’. a1774 R. Fergusson Poems (1785) 171 Ye lowns that troke in doctor's stuff, You'll now hae unco slaisters. 1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. I. xv. 171 Like doctor-stuff generally, it is not as appetizing as desirable. 1924 J. C. Lincoln Rugged Water xviii. 354 I don't know what this doctor stuff is, but it generally soothes him down and gets him to sleep again. Some kind of morphine or such dratted trash, I presume likely. 1945 Strand Mag. Nov. 36/1 Mr. Chislehurst..was a chemist... He didn't work at a shop, making up doctor's stuff. He was very clever, and exercised his cleverness in a place which Mrs. Pigeon called a lab-oratory. doctor's surgery n. chiefly British a room or establishment where a doctor treats or advises patients (cf. doctor's office n.); (sometimes also) an occasion on which medical treatment or consultation occurs. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > places for the sick or injured > [noun] > surgery or consulting-room examining room1775 doctor1808 doctor's office1809 doctor's surgery1842 consulting room1843 surgery1846 operatory1948 the world > health and disease > healing > art or science of medicine > practice of healing art > [noun] > consultation session surgery1938 doctor's surgery1993 1842 Punch 2 236/2 The Excise-office is a noble building, with an extensive parlour window, nearly as large as the Doctor's surgery next door. 1963 N. Hilliard Piece of Land 82 The milking shed was a sight to see: as spick and span as a doctor's surgery. 1993 J. Everton in K. Fisher & J. Collins Homelessness, Health Care & Welfare Provision i. 25 Housing projects arrange for a doctor's surgery to be held in the project or for a nurse's services to be available. 2013 N. Solomons Gallery Vanished Husbands 175 The doctor's surgery was filled with fretting babies and tired, grey-looking mothers. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2022). doctorv. Brit. /ˈdɒktə/, U.S. /ˈdɑktər/ Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: doctor n. Etymology: < doctor n. 1. transitive. To confer the title or degree of Doctor on (a person); to award a doctorate to.In early use with reference to scholars qualified to teach theology (cf. doctor n. 5b). ΘΚΠ society > education > educational administration > university administration > taking degree or graduation > take degree [verb (transitive)] > confer degree on > specific degree doctorate1591 doctor1594 doctorize1600 bedoctor1806 1594 A. Hume Reioynder Dr. Hil 92 Why M. Doctor, haue you (now you are Doctored) forgot the olde speach of the Schooles, when you were a generall? 1599 E. Sandys Europæ Speculum (1632) 117 Which Church hath now fully..delivered her mind in the late Councell of Trent; whereto all that are solemnly doctored in Italy must subscribe. a1634 R. Chapman Hallelu-jah (1635) 55 Being as truely Doctored in the acting of sinnes, as the Iesuites in the art of poysoning. 1741 A. Pope Corr. 12 Aug. (1956) IV. 357 I will be Doctor'd with you, or not at all. 1868 G. V. Cox Recoll. Oxf. xx. 371 Dr. Newman (once of us as Mr. Newman, but doctored by the Pope) was tried and found guilty of publishing ‘a defamatory paper’. 1873 J. R. Lowell Lett. (1894) II. 108 I have been over to Oxford to be doctored, and had a very pleasant time of it. 1891 Sat. Rev. 20 June 730/1 Cambridge on Tuesday ‘doctored’ among others her new High Steward. 1993 A. L. Rowse All Souls vii. 178 Lionel Robbins and I were doctored together at Exeter. 2. a. transitive. (a) To adulterate or dilute (alcoholic drink). Now rare. (b) To add alcohol, a drug, or another harmful substance to (food or drink), typically surreptitiously; to spike. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > condition or state of being mixed or blended > mix or blend [verb (transitive)] > add as ingredient to a mixture > qualify by admixture > adulterate adulterc1384 feigna1398 sophisticatec1400 infect?1440 counterfeit1495 adulterate?1526 dash1548 falsify1562 elay1573 abuse1574 base1581 corrupt1581 debase1591 adulterize1593 compass1594 sophisticate1604 allay1634 huckster1642 hucksterize1646 cauponize1652 alloy1661 balderdash1674 impurify1693 doctor1726 vitiate1728 sand1851 dope1898 1726 Tavern Scuffle 12 It seems of late, they have learn'd the Art of doctoring their own Wines, so that we may have it imported here, yet adulterated there. 1794 G. Turner Gen. View Agric. Gloucester 53 The method that has, I fear, too much prevailed in Devonshire, Gloucestershire, and Herefordshire, of doctoring the cyder. 1847 Remarks Colonial Policy Brit. N. Amer. 37 Not sherry at all, but doctored with an enormous proportion of brandy, to suit the British market. 1898 Manch. Weekly Times 14 Jan. 4/4 He was not very well pleased, saying that his food had been doctored. 1971 Soviet Weekly 12 June 16 It is..almost too pure, and has to be doctored to make it palatable for drinking. 1982 B. Beaumont Thanks to Rugby xiii. 176 Jeff Squire was doctoring each drink with..vodka. By the end Noel was plastered and legless. 2012 G. Manville Flight into Reality (e-book, accessed 9 Sept. 2021) xi. 80 Could Kyle have doctored her drink? Now, here she was in his bed. b. transitive. To make alterations to (something) in order to deceive; (in later use) spec. to change the content or appearance of (a document, picture, or other source of information) so as to give a misleading or false impression; to falsify, fabricate. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > forgery, falsification > forge, falsify [verb (transitive)] forgec1330 counterfeitc1386 feign1484 flamc1500 adulterate?1526 mint1593 fashion1600 fudge1674 sham1699 doctor1750 fake1884 to fake up1885 phoney1940 bodgie1969 the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > forgery, falsification > faking of documents > forge, falsify [verb (transitive)] false1303 forgec1330 counterfeitc1386 deceit1484 falsify1502 forge1535 sophisticate1605 doctor1750 fabricate1779 the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > duping, making a fool of > befool, cheat, dupe [verb (transitive)] > alter or manipulate something for the purpose of deception cook1636 doctor1750 fake1819 rig1826 ready2004 1750 Conversat. between Blacksmith & Merchant 5 The Circumference of a broad Half-Guinea, and a whole Guinea well sweated, and doctored by these Artists, being so nearly equal, that without observing the Thickness..you could hardly judge of the Difference. a1777 S. Foote Cozeners (1778) iii. ii. 77 I wish we had time though to doctor his face. 1847 T. De Quincey Spanish Mil. Nun (1853) xxi. 66 Modes of doctoring dice. 1883 Amer. Counting-room Sept. 160/1 Jones invests his money; in due time he sorrowfully learns that the accounts were doctored for the occasion, and that things are very different from what they were represented to him. 1958 Vogue 15 Jan. 96 Remaking your age has nothing to do with doctoring the dates on your birth certificate. 2008 Wall St. Jrnl. 11 July a7/1 Iran apparently doctored a photograph of missile test-firings and exaggerated the capabilities of the weapons. c. transitive. Cricket. To tamper with (the pitch) in order to gain an unfair advantage, typically by creating conditions which benefit the bowlers from one's own team. Also (Cricket, Baseball, and other games): to tamper with (the ball) so as to affect its flight. Cf. ball doctoring n. at ball n.¹ Compounds 2.In quot. 1887 perhaps an ironic use of sense 4b. ΚΠ 1887 S. Austral. Advertiser 28 Dec. 7/3 The person or persons who had ‘doctored’ the wicket had no doubt been actuated by the best of intentions as regarded our team. 1895 T. Hughes Vacation Rambles 324 An English lower-school boy would have brought down a bonhomme at that distance with every ball, unless the balls were somehow doctored. 1956 Life 10 Sept. 67/1 ‘Wet ones’—i.e., baseballs doctored illegally with spit or perspiration. 1985 Times 19 July 23/8 After doctoring the pitch for their home tie with Middlesex in the last round, justice would have been done had Essex been drawn away. 1992 N.Y. Times 23 June b11/5 Both Leary and Yankee Manager Buck Showalter denied that the pitcher doctored the baseball, but the replays during the nationally televised game were quite revealing. 2006 Financial Times 22 Aug. 4/2 Doctoring the ball to make it swing more is one of the oldest tricks. 3. a. transitive. To give medical care or attention to (a person or animal, or a part of the body); to treat (a disease or medical condition). Now chiefly U.S. colloquial. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > [verb (transitive)] curea1398 dighta1400 doctor1738 to doctor up1741 treat1781 vet1900 1738 J. Swift Treat. Polite Conversat. 87 I hear he's weary of doctoring it [sc. the gout], and now makes Use of nothing but Patience, and Flannel. 1740 H. Bracken Farriery Improv'd (ed. 2) II. i. 47 Rather than suffer a good serviceable Creature to be doctor'd out of his Life by the common Farriers. 1773 Let. 5 May in F. Mason John Norton & Sons (1968) 320 I had him..not only to feed but to Doctor and take care off or he must have died. 1832 P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 38 Brodie..prescribed for me and sent me off to doctor myself. 1845 C. Dickens Let. 17 Feb. (1977) IV. 268 An Englishman, who has lived here many years..is well acquainted with the people, whom he doctored in the bad time of cholera. 1916 M. S. Croy Putnam's Househ. Handbk. 227 In doctoring a cold, care should be taken to keep the bowels moving freely. 1936 M. Mitchell Gone with Wind (1962) i. ii. 39 The black leather bag in which Ellen O'Hara always carried the bandages and medicines she used in doctoring the slaves. 2013 B. Williamson Dawn's Shadow (e-book, accessed 10 Sept. 2021) viii. 336 The desired tears never came; instead, after she finished doctoring his wounds, she too admonished him. b. intransitive. colloquial. To work as a doctor or physician; to practise medicine. Also with on: to treat (someone) medically; = sense 3a. Cf. earlier doctoring n. 2. ΚΠ 1838 E. L. Joseph Warner Arundell II. ii. 41 Our young friend, who saved our eldest boy, has paid us a visit to try his hand at doctoring on me. 1897 People State N.Y. vs. Howard C. Benham: Appeal Papers: Jurors (Supreme Court County of Genesee) (1898) I. §4701 Q. He has doctored in your family? A. Not in mine; he has in my father's family. 1977 Salina (Kansas) Jrnl. 17 Apr. 32/2 He doctored all around the countryside and at Fort Riley. 2017 J. Ward Sing, Unburied, Sing 120 When they untied him, his back was full of blood..and sergeant told me to doctor on him. 2021 @Dr_Ayan 1 Apr. in twitter.com (accessed 22 Nov. 2021) Been doctoring for 22 years now and been a GP for 18 of them. c. intransitive. colloquial (chiefly U.S.). To receive medical treatment; to take medicine. ΚΠ 1838 Botanico-Med. Recorder 7 Apr. 211/2 I doctored with Shimer two and a half weeks; but he did me more harm than good. 1899 Jrnl. Educ. Jan. 44/3 I doctored with our family physician without any good result, so my husband urged me to try Dr. Pierce's medicines. 1911 Watchman-Warder (Lindsay, Ont.) 6 Apr. 5/4 [She] has been doctoring with Toronto specialists for cancer in the throat since last fall. 2006 Gettysburg (Pa.) Times 8 June b5/1 My husband has emphysema. He has been doctoring for this for years. 4. a. transitive. To make changes to or edit (a text or manuscript), originally so as to emend or improve the text, but later sometimes with the implication of an intention to mislead or deceive.Later use sometimes merges into sense 2b. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > literary and textual criticism > textual criticism > practise textual criticism [verb (transitive)] > emend amend?c1225 correctc1374 reformc1425 emaculate1623 mend1631–2 castigate1666 rectify1730 emend1769 doctor?c1775 redress1796 emendate1876 ?c1775 G. Steevens Let. in D. Garrick Private Corr. (1832) (modernized text) II. 122 Surely Troilus and Cressida would do more, if it were well clipped and doctored. 1833 R. H. Froude Remains (1838) I. 317 Can these [verses] be doctored into any thing available? 1902 Hibbert Jrnl. Oct. 101 In the Paris and Vatican codices the text has been doctored in two subsequent passages... But in neither case has the corrector availed himself of either of the forms found in the Greek MSS. of Matthew. 1983 Angelicum 60 318 By doctoring the manuscript in a few ways—adding a preface and appending a note at the end—Galileo was able to get Riccardi's approval and his book was printed at Florence in 1632. 2015 H. W. Basser & M. B. Cohen Gospel of Matthew & Judaic Trad. xix. 489 Many modern commentators assume that the words..were appended by Matthew onto a pre-existent Jesus tradition, that his text has been doctored, and that originally divorce per se was a real issue. b. transitive. To mend or repair (something); to patch up. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > amending > put right [verb (transitive)] helpc950 amendc1230 bootc1330 correctc1374 menda1375 recovera1398 dighta1400 restorea1400 redressa1402 recurec1425 remedyc1425 remeidc1480 emendc1485 richa1500 rightena1500 chastisea1513 rectifya1529 redeem1575 salve1575 remed1590 reclaim1593 renew1608 retrieve1625 recruit1673 raccommode1754 splice1803 doctor1829 remediate1837 right-side1847 sort1948 society > occupation and work > industry > manufacturing processes > mending or repairing > [verb (transitive)] beetc975 menda1200 amenda1250 rightc1275 botcha1382 reparela1382 cure1382 repaira1387 dighta1400 emend1411 to mend up1479 restablishc1500 help1518 trimc1520 redub1522 reparate1548 accommodate1552 reinstaure1609 reconcinnate1623 to do up1647 righta1656 fixa1762 doctor1829 vamp1837 service1916 rejig1976 1829 H. Alford Jrnl. 23 Nov. in Life, Jrnls. & Lett. (1873) 50 Wasted most of the morning in doctoring a clock. 1913 A. E. Bergh How Bk. iii. 164 Dilapidated bags and worn-out gripsacks may be doctored in the same way. 1951 Sport 30 Mar. 9/2 The Griffin Park field was doctored last summer at a cost of £2,500. 2010 @JonathanKWeaver 12 May in twitter.com (accessed 7 Sept. 2021) My car has been doctored. Hopefully it will last. 5. transitive. Scottish and English regional (East Anglian). To injure (a person or animal) fatally; to kill; (now only) to finish off, ‘do for’. Now rare. Sc. National Dict. (at Doctor v.) records this sense as still in use in Shetland and Lanarkshire in the 1940s. ΚΠ 1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. at Doctor v. To doctor one, to kill one..Clydes[dale]. 1900 F. Hall in Eng. Dial. Dict. II. at Doctor [Suffolk] My dawg's a wonder to doctor a rat. 1928 in Sc. National Dict. at Doctor When two boys had a fight one would say of the winner, ‘He fairly doctored Jock this time.’ 6. transitive. To remove the sexual organs of (an animal) so that it cannot reproduce; (in early use) spec. to castrate (a male animal, esp. a working ram, stallion, etc.). Cf. neuter v. 1. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > animal keeping practices general > [verb (transitive)] > castrate geldc1225 lib1396 stone1584 caponize1654 alter1821 twitchel1826 doctor1834 neuter1903 fix1930 capon- 1834 Hobart Town Courier 14 Nov. 1/4 (advt.) This fine young horse..will cover a few mares this season, never having been ‘doctored’ he will be found a sure foal getter. 1902 F. Simpson Cats ii. 30 It is necessary..to have your male cat doctored when he arrives at years of discretion. 1954 L. M. Barker Pears Cycl. (ed. 62) 957/2 Many cats of both sexes are castrated or spayed (the popular expression for this is ‘doctored’). 1970 C. Kersh Aggravations of Minnie Ashe v. 63 He had been paid ‘good English money’ to doctor our cat. 2012 A. Tootill Cole & Cat Woman (2015) (e-book, accessed 7 Sept. 2021) vii. 94 Presumably the cats are doctored, so no particular problem with male or female. Phrasal verbs to doctor up 1. transitive. To change the appearance or composition of (something) in order to achieve a particular result, typically either for the purposes of deception or to make an improvement. Cf. sense 2. ΚΠ 1725 Applebee's Orig. Weekly Jrnl. 27 Nov. Have not you and I..as much right to doctor up a Journal, and take three half-pence for the rectifying the Brains of Mankind, as this dres'd up Gew Gaw of a Mountebank has to give his Packets out, with his good for nothing Plaisters. 1822 C. Lillie Brit. Perfumer ix. 330 This imitation consists of very base and dangerous materials. These are doctored up and coloured. 1891 C. M. Clay Railway Issue 14 He alleges that President Breyfogle has doctored up the records of the directory and packed the boad with his personal friends. 1939 Consumers' Guide 10 Oct. 5/1 Dealers should stop doctoring up samples and misrepresenting quality. 1987 Associated Press (Nexis) 14 Dec. The alcohol was in a juice can that ‘had been doctored up’. 2020 Tampa Bay (Florida) Times (Nexis) 9 Jan. Doctor up the bowls to your liking with chili flakes, fish sauce, sliced and pickled jalapenos and sweet red chili paste. 2. transitive. To give medical care or attention to (a person or animal); to dose up with something. Cf. sense 3a. Now chiefly U.S. colloquial. ΚΠ 1741 Trials S. Goodere, M. Mahony, & C. White 25 The Captain said to the Doctor, Doctor, I have got an old mad Fellow here, you must doctor him up as well as you can. 1842 C. Whitehead Richard Savage (1845) I. xi. 156 We'll doctor him up while you're gone. 1895 House Furnishing Rev. Dec. 216/2 I nursed her and doctored her up, and she finally got well. 1954 Harder Coll. in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (1991) II. at Doctor I doctored him up with white linament [sic]. 1996 J. H. Hallas Killing Ground on Okinawa iii. 45 Chaisson and the corpsman doused the holes [in his legs] with sulfa powder, applied some bandages, and doctored him up. 2014 S. Choquette Walking Home 208 They doctored him up with some strange natural remedies that surprisingly worked. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2022). < n.a1382v.1594
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