dose
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dose¹
- /ˈdəʊ̯s/ UK
- /ˈdɵ̞ʊ̯s/ UK
- /ˈdoʊ̯s/ Canada, US
- /ˈdɔʊ̯s/ Canada, US
- /ˈdoʊ̯s/ California
- [ˈdeʊ̯s] California
- /ˈdɔʊ̯s/ California
- [ˈdɛʊ̯s] California
- /ˈdəʉ̯s/ Australia
- /ˈdɐʉ̯s/ Australia
- /ˈdɐʉ̯s/ New Zealand
Rhymes with -əʊs
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Middle French dose, from Late Latin dosis, from Ancient Greek δόσις (dósis, “a portion prescribed”, literally “a giving”), used by Galen and other Greek physicians to mean an amount of medicine, from δίδωμι (dídōmi, “to give”). Mostly displaced English drench. Doublet of doos.
noun doses
- A measured portion of medicine taken at any one time. Why did he give you only a single 500 mg dose? The correct dosage of this antibiotic is one 500 mg tablet twice a day for 10 days.
- The quantity of an agent (not always active), substance, or radiation administered or experienced at any one time. Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese[…]began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated. The poisoning was irreversible, and soon ended in psychosis and death. Nowadays workers are exposed to far lower doses and
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Anything disagreeable that must be taken.
Similar: fill
- A good measure or lengthy experience of something. a healthy dose of skepticism.
- A venereal infection. Don't give a dose to the one you love most. / Give her some marmalade... give her some toast.
- A cold; a common, viral illness of the nasal passage, sometimes with fever. There's a dose going round.
verb doses · dosing · dosed
- To administer a dose (of medicine) to. "She thought herself broad awake, and I have dosed her with an opiate."
- To prescribe a dose.
- To surreptitiously administer a dose of an incapacitating drug (to an unwilling subject); to roofie. The defense never conceded that their clients had administered chloral [hydrate], but Death and Campbell said initially—during their contested station house confessions—that McAlister had dosed [Jennie Bosschieter's] drink.
- To transmit a venereal disease to. Sometime back, one of your scarlet sisters dosed me proper.
dose²
noun doses
- Archaic form of doze Just at the dawning of the day, I fell into a dose more like sleep than any I had during the whole night, in which I dreamed that I saw a river as clear as crystal […]
verb doses · dosing · dosed
- Archaic form of doze It was to me a marvellous experience; to be here, propped up with pillows in a dimly-lighted room, the night-nurse idly dosing by the fire; the sound of the everlasting wind in my ears, howling outside […]
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: dosage, drug, medication, recipe, injection, overdose, noael, vaccination, immunization, kidney, stomach, dope, irradiation, dosimetry, sunitinib, radiation
Translations
Every language
noun quantity of an agent administered at any one time
| Español | dosis |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 剂量 jìliàng |
| Português | dose |
| Deutsch | Dosis |
| Italiano | dose |
| Ελληνικά | δόση dósi |
| Русский | до́за dóza, по́рция pórcija |
Talk about this word "dose." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/dose. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. dose. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/dose "dose." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/dose.Cite this
@misc{dose_2026,
title = {dose},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/dose},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
