| 1. | a person licensed to practice medicine, as a physician, surgeon, dentist, or veterinarian. |
| 2. | a person who has been awarded a doctor's degree: He is a Doctor of Philosophy. |
| 3. | Doctor of the Church. |
| 4. | Older Slang. a cook, as at a camp or on a ship. |
| 5. | Machinery. any of various minor mechanical devices, esp. one designed to remedy an undesirable characteristic of an automatic process. |
| 6. | Angling. any of several artificial flies, esp. the silver doctor. |
| 7. | an eminent scholar and teacher. |
| 8. | to give medical treatment to; act as a physician to: He feels he can doctor himself for just a common cold. |
| 9. | to treat (an ailment); apply remedies to: He doctored his cold at home. |
| 10. | to restore to original or working condition; repair; mend: She was able to doctor the chipped vase with a little plastic cement. |
| 11. | to tamper with; falsify: He doctored the birthdate on his passport. |
| 12. | to add a foreign substance to; adulterate: Someone had doctored the drink. |
| 13. | 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. |
| 14. | to award a doctorate to: He did his undergraduate work in the U.S. and was doctored at Oxford. |
| 15. | to practice medicine. |
| 16. | Older Use. to take medicine; receive medical treatment. |
| 17. | Metallurgy. (of an article being electroplated) to receive plating unevenly. |
doc·tor (dŏk'tər) n.
v. tr.
To practice medicine. [Middle English, an expert, authority, from Old French docteur, from Latin doctor, teacher, from docēre, to teach; see dek- in Indo-European roots.] doc'tor·al adj., doc'tor·ly adj. |
doctor doc·tor (dŏk'tər)
n.
A person, especially a physician, dentist, or veterinarian, trained in the healing arts and licensed to practice.
A person who has earned the highest academic degree awarded by a university in a specified discipline.