subs. (old).—1. A false die; sometimes a manipulated card.—See TO PUT THE DOCTOR ON ONE.
1688. SHADWELL, The Squire of Alsatia, I., in wks. (1720), iv., 18. Belf. Sen. Tatts, and DOCTOR! what’s that? Sham. The tools of sharpers, false dice.
1709. CENTLIVRE, The Gamester, Act i. Now, sir, here is your true dice, a man seldom gets anything by them; here is your false, sir; hey, how they run! Now, sir, those we generally call DOCTORS.
1750. FIELDING, Tom Jones. bk. viii. ch. xii. Here, said he, taking some dice out of his pockets, here are the little DOCTORS which cure the distempers of the purse.
1822. SCOTT, The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxxiii. A gamester, one who deals with the devil’s bones and the DOCTORS. Ibid. (1823), Peveril of the Peak, ch. xxviii. The dicers with their DOCTORS in their pockets, I presume.
2. (common).—An adulterant. Cf., TO KEEP THE DOCTOR.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. A composition used by distillers, to make spirits appear stronger than they really are, or in their phrase, better proof.
1828. G. SMEETON, Doings in London. Maton, in his ‘Tricks of Bakers Unmasked,’ says alum, which is called the DOCTOR, ground and unground, is sold to the bakers at fourpence per pound.
3. (licensed victuallers’).—Brown sherry. [Because a ‘doctored’ (q.v.)., wine. Cf., sense 2.]
4. (nautical and up-country Australian).—A ship’s cook.
5. (Winchester College).—The head master.
1866. MANSFIELD, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 27. The head master, or ‘the DOCTOR’ as he is always called, lives in ‘Commoners’ buildings.’
6. (old gamesters’).—The last throw of dice or ninepins.
Verb (common).—1. To patch; adulterate; falsify; ‘cook.’
1837. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends (The House-warming) (ed. 1862), p. 464.
| —She ‘DOCTOR’D’ the punch, and she ‘DOCTOR’D’ the negus, | |
| Taking care not to put in sufficient to flavour it. |
1862. H. GREELEY, in New York Independent. The news [of success to the United States armies, said the English leading journals] all came through Northern channels, and was DOCTORED by the government which controlled the telegraph.
2. (sporting).—To poison a horse.
TO KEEP THE DOCTOR, verb. phr. (licensed victuallers’).—To make a practice of adulterating the liquor sold. Cf., DOCTOR, subs., sense 2.
TO PUT THE DOCTOR ON ONE, verb. phr. (common).—To cheat.
