Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DOC'TOR, n. [L. from doceo, to teach.]

1. A teacher. There stood up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law. – Acts v.
2. One who has passed all the degrees of a faculty, and is empowered to practice and teach it; as, a doctor in divinity, in physic, in law; or according to modern usage, a person who has received the highest degree in a faculty. The degree of doctor is conferred by universities and colleges, as an honorary mark of literary distinction. It is also conferred on physicians, as a professional degree.
3. A learned man; a man skilled in a profession; a man of erudition. – Dryden. Digby.
4. A physician; one whose occupation is to cure diseases.
5. The title, doctor, is given to certain fathers of the church whose opinions are received as authorities, and in the Greek church, it is given to a particular officer who interprets the Scriptures. – Encyc. Doctor's Commons, the college of civilians in London.