Doctors

doc·tor  (dktr)

n.

1. A person, especially a physician, dentist, or veterinarian, trained in the healing arts and licensed to practice.

2.

a. A person who has earned the highest academic degree awarded by a college or university in a specified discipline.

b. A person awarded an honorary degree by a college or university.

3. Abbr. Dr. Used as a title and form of address for a person holding the degree of doctor.

4. Roman Catholic Church An eminent theologian.

5. A practitioner of folk medicine or folk magic.

6. A rig or device contrived for remedying an emergency situation or for doing a special task.

7. Any of several brightly colored artificial flies used in fly fishing.

v. doc·tored, doc·tor·ing, doc·tors Informal

v.tr.

1. Informal To give medical treatment to: "[He] does more than practice medicine. He doctors people. There's a difference" (Charles Kuralt).

2. To repair, especially in a makeshift manner; rig.

3.

a. To falsify or change in such a way as to make favorable to oneself: doctored the evidence.

b. To add ingredients so as to improve or conceal the taste, appearance, or quality of: doctor the soup with a dash of sherry. See Synonyms at adulterate.

c. To alter or modify for a specific end: doctored my standard speech for the small-town audience.

d. Baseball To deface or apply a substance to (the ball): was ejected because he doctored the ball with a piece of sandpaper.

v.intr. Informal

To practice medicine.

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[Middle English, an expert, authority, from Old French docteur, from Latin doctor, teacher, from docre, to teach; see dek- in Indo-European roots.]

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doctor·al adj.

doctor·ly adj.

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Doctors 

See Also: PROFESSIONS

1. As with eggs, there is no such thing as a poor doctor; doctors are either good or bad —Fuller Albright

   The author of this simile is a doctor.

2. A breast or a foot is examined [by doctors lacking in empathy] like a pack of cigarettes —Hildegarde Knef, quoted in interview with Rex Reed
3. Carrying his little black bag like a small sample cut from the shadow of death —Helen Hudson

   This observation from Hudson’s novel, Meyer Meyer, is made by the main character about his doctor/brother-in-law.

4. Commonly, physicians, like beer, are best when they are old; and lawyers, like bread, when they are young and new —Thomas Fuller
5. A doctor knows the human body as a cabman knows the town; he is well acquainted with all the great thoroughfares and small turnings; he’s intimate with all the principle edifices, but he cannot tell you what is going on inside of any one of them —Punch, 1856
6. The fame of a surgeon is like the fame of an actor; it exists only as long as they live, and their talent is no longer appreciable after they have disappeared —Honoré de Balzac
7. Physicians are like kings; they brook no contradiction —John Webster