doctor: Meaning and Definition of
doc•tor
Pronunciation: (dok'tur), [key] — n.
- a person licensed to practice medicine, as a physician, surgeon, dentist, or veterinarian.
- a person who has been awarded a doctor's degree: He is a Doctor of Philosophy.
- See
- a cook, as at a camp or on a ship.
- any of various minor mechanical devices, esp. one designed to remedy an undesirable characteristic of an automatic process.
- any of several artificial flies, esp. the silver doctor.
- an eminent scholar and teacher.
—v.t. - to give medical treatment to; act as a physician to: He feels he can doctor himself for just a common cold.
- to treat (an ailment); apply remedies to: He doctored his cold at home.
- to restore to original or working condition; repair; mend: She was able to doctor the chipped vase with a little plastic cement.
- to tamper with; falsify: He doctored the birthdate on his passport.
- to add a foreign substance to; adulterate: Someone had doctored the drink.
- to revise, alter, or adapt (a photograph, manuscript, etc.) in order to serve a specific purpose or to improve the material: to doctor a play.
- to award a doctorate to: He did his undergraduate work in the U.S. and was doctored at Oxford.
—v.i. - to practice medicine.
- to take medicine; receive medical treatment.
- (of an article being electroplated) to receive plating unevenly.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.