doctor: Meaning and Definition of

doc•tor

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. See
4. a cook, as at a camp or on a ship.
5. any of various minor mechanical devices, esp. one designed to remedy an undesirable characteristic of an automatic process.
6. any of several artificial flies, esp. the silver doctor.
7. an eminent scholar and teacher.

1. to give medical treatment to; act as a physician to: He feels he can doctor himself for just a common cold.
2. to treat (an ailment); apply remedies to: He doctored his cold at home.
3. to restore to original or working condition; repair; mend: She was able to doctor the chipped vase with a little plastic cement.
4. to tamper with; falsify: He doctored the birthdate on his passport.
5. to add a foreign substance to; adulterate: Someone had doctored the drink.
6. 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.
7. to award a doctorate to: He did his undergraduate work in the U.S. and was doctored at Oxford.

1. to practice medicine.
2. to take medicine; receive medical treatment.
3. (of an article being electroplated) to receive plating unevenly.