Word.ws English Dictionary

doctor's orders

doctor's orders noun: used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see doctor, -'s, orders.

Noun

doctor's orders pl (plural only)

  1. (plural, plural-only) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see doctor, -'s, orders.
  2. (UK, plural, plural-only) The number nine.

Origin of doctor's orders

A laxative pill, "number 9", once issued in the British army

Questions about doctor's orders

What does doctor's orders mean?
Doctor's orders means used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see doctor, -'s, orders.
What part of speech is doctor's orders?
Doctor's orders is a noun.

Words near doctor's orders in the dictionary

  1. doctor's
  2. doctor's bonnet
  3. doctor's certificate
  4. doctor's note
  5. doctor's office
  6. doctor's orders
  7. doctor's stuff
  8. doctor's we
  9. doctor, heal thyself
  10. doctorable
  11. doctoral

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: doctor's orders (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-doctor's easy.wav.

Cite this entry: “doctor's orders.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/doctor%27s_orders. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.