doctor

doctor doc"tor, n. [OF. doctur, L. doctor, teacher, fr. docere to teach. See {Docile}.] 1. A teacher; one skilled in a profession, or branch of knowledge; a learned man. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

One of the doctors of Italy, Nicholas Macciavel. -- Bacon. [1913 Webster]

2. An academical title, originally meaning a man so well versed in his department as to be qualified to teach it. Hence: One who has taken the highest degree conferred by a university or college, or has received a diploma of the highest degree; as, a doctor of divinity, of law, of medicine, of music, or of philosophy. Such diplomas may confer an honorary title only. [1913 Webster]

3. One duly licensed to practice medicine; a member of the medical profession; a physician. [1913 Webster]

By medicine life may be prolonged, yet death Will seize the doctor too. -- Shak. [1913 Webster]

4. Any mechanical contrivance intended to remedy a difficulty or serve some purpose in an exigency; as, the doctor of a calico-printing machine, which is a knife to remove superfluous coloring matter; the doctor, or auxiliary engine, called also {donkey engine}. [1913 Webster]

5. (Zo["o]l.) The friar skate. [Prov. Eng.] [1913 Webster]

{Doctors' Commons}. See under {Commons}.

{Doctor's stuff}, physic, medicine. --G. Eliot.

{Doctor fish} (Zo["o]l.), any fish of the genus {Acanthurus}; the surgeon fish; -- so called from a sharp lancetlike spine on each side of the tail. Also called {barber fish}. See {Surgeon fish}. [1913 Webster]