alienist

[eyl-yuh-nist, ey-lee-uh-] Origin

al·ien·ist

[eyl-yuh-nist, ey-lee-uh-]
noun
1.
(formerly) a doctor specializing in the treatment of mental illness.
2.
an expert witness in a sanity trial.

Origin:
1860–65; alien(ation) + -ist; compare French aliéniste in same sense
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Alienist is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
Collins
World English Dictionary
alienist (ˈeɪljənɪst, ˈeɪlɪə-)
 
n
1.  (US) a psychiatrist who specializes in the legal aspects of mental illness
2.  obsolete a person who practises alienism

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

alienist
"one who treats mental illness, 'mad doctor,' " 1864, from Fr. aliéniste, from alienation in the sense of "insanity, loss of mental faculty," a sense attested in Eng. from late 15c. (see alienate).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

alienist al·ien·ist (āl'yə-nĭst, ā'lē-ə-)
n.
A physician accepted by a court of law as an expert on the mental competence of principals or witnesses.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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