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quackish

 - 6 dictionary results

quack

2  [kwak]
Use quackish in a Sentence
–noun
1. a fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill.
2. a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to skill, knowledge, or qualifications he or she does not possess; a charlatan.
–adjective
3. being a quack: a quack psychologist who complicates everyone's problems.
4. presented falsely as having curative powers: quack medicine.
5. of, pertaining to, or befitting a quack or quackery: quack methods.
–verb (used with object)
6. to treat in the manner of a quack.
7. to advertise or sell with fraudulent claims.
Origin:
1620–30; short for quacksalver

Related forms:
quackish, adjective
quack⋅ish⋅ly, adverb
quack⋅ish⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
2. mountebank, phony.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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quack 2   (kwāk)   
n.  

  1. An untrained person who pretends to be a physician and dispenses medical advice and treatment.

  2. A charlatan; a mountebank.

adj.  Relating to or characteristic of a quack: a quack cure.
intr.v.   quacked, quack·ing, quacks
To act as a medical quack or a charlatan.

[Short for quacksalver.]
quack'er·y n., quack'ish adj., quack'ish·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
quack

  1. n.
    a fraudulent physician; a derogatory term for a physician. : I won't go back to that quack ever again!
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

quack  (n.)
"medical charlatan," 1638, short for quacksalver (1579), from Du. kwaksalver, lit. "hawker of salve," from M.Du. quacken "to brag, boast," lit. "to croak" (see quack (v.)) + zalf "salve." Cf. Ger. Quacksalber, Dan. kvaksalver, Swed. kvacksalvare.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: 2quack
Function: adjective
: of, relating to, characteristic of, or being a quack <quack remedies>
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

quack (kwāk)
n.

  1. An untrained person who pretends to be a physician and dispenses medical advice and treatment.

  2. A charlatan.

quack'er·y n.

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