bedoctor

English

Etymology

From be- (“on, at, upon”) +‎ doctor.

Verb

bedoctor (third-person singular simple present bedoctors, present participle bedoctoring, simple past and past participle bedoctored)

1. (transitive) To confer a doctoral degree upon.
   • 1887, The Academy and Literature:

     [...] why bedoctor this charming French writer?

   • 1967, Albert Somit, Joseph Tanenhaus, The development of American political science:

     Given the recent trend, the profession will soon bedoctor each year twice as many practitioners as the original total membership of the Association.

2. (transitive) To address as 'doctor'.
3. (transitive) To care for in the manner of a doctor.
   • 1906, The Independent:

     And half the neurotic, ever-bedoctored women owe their cowardly physical condition to the fact that when they were little children they were allowed to stay away from school, excused from common household duties because they had a headache or a cramp somewhere.

   • 1967, Béla Bartók, Benjamin Suchoff, Rumanian Folk Music:

     I'm with yearn, (my) sweetheart's too; Both of us should have a doctor, Doctor to bedoctor us, To deliver us from yearning.

Anagrams

• codebtor