Doctors Commons

Commons \Com"mons\, n. pl.,
   1. The mass of the people, as distinguished from the titled
      classes or nobility; the commonalty; the common people.
      [Eng.]
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            'T is like the commons, rude unpolished hinds,
            Could send such message to their sovereign. --Shak.
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            The word commons in its present ordinary
            signification comprises all the people who are under
            the rank of peers.                    --Blackstone.
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   2. The House of Commons, or lower house of the British
      Parliament, consisting of representatives elected by the
      qualified voters of counties, boroughs, and universities.
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            It is agreed that the Commons were no part of the
            great council till some ages after the Conquest.
                                                  --Hume.
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   3. Provisions; food; fare, -- as that provided at a common
      table in colleges and universities.
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            Their commons, though but coarse, were nothing
            scant.                                --Dryden.
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   4. A club or association for boarding at a common table, as
      in a college, the members sharing the expenses equally;
      as, to board in commons.
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   5. A common; public pasture ground.
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            To shake his ears, and graze in commons. --Shak.
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   {Doctors' Commons}, a place near St. Paul's Churchyard in
      London where the doctors of civil law used to common
      together, and where were the ecclesiastical and admiralty
      courts and offices having jurisdiction of marriage
      licenses, divorces, registration of wills, etc.

   {To be on short commons}, to have a small allowance of food.
      [Colloq.]
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doctor \doc"tor\, n. [OF. doctur, L. doctor, teacher, fr. docere
   to teach. See {Docile}.]
   1. A teacher; one skilled in a profession, or branch of
      knowledge; a learned man. [Obs.]
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            One of the doctors of Italy, Nicholas Macciavel. --
                                                  Bacon.
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   2. An academical title, originally meaning a man so well
      versed in his department as to be qualified to teach it.
      Hence: One who has taken the highest degree conferred by a
      university or college, or has received a diploma of the
      highest degree; as, a doctor of divinity, of law, of
      medicine, of music, or of philosophy. Such diplomas may
      confer an honorary title only.
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   3. One duly licensed to practice medicine; a member of the
      medical profession; a physician.
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            By medicine life may be prolonged, yet death
            Will seize the doctor too.            -- Shak.
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   4. Any mechanical contrivance intended to remedy a difficulty
      or serve some purpose in an exigency; as, the doctor of a
      calico-printing machine, which is a knife to remove
      superfluous coloring matter; the doctor, or auxiliary
      engine, called also {donkey engine}.
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   5. (Zool.) The friar skate. [Prov. Eng.]
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   {Doctors' Commons}. See under {Commons}.

   {Doctor's stuff}, physic, medicine. --G. Eliot.

   {Doctor fish} (Zool.), any fish of the genus {Acanthurus};
      the surgeon fish; -- so called from a sharp lancetlike
      spine on each side of the tail. Also called {barber fish}.
      See {Surgeon fish}.
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DOCTORS COMMONS. A building in London used for a college of civilians. Here 
the judge of the court of arches, the judge of the admiralty, and the judge 
of the court of Canterbury, with other eminent civilians, reside. Commons 
signifies, in old English, pittance or allowance; because it is meant in 
common among societies, as Universities, Inns of Courts, Doctors Commons, 
&c. The Latin word is, demensum a demetiendo; dividing every one his part 
Minsheu. It is called Doctors Commons, because the persons residing there 
live in a collegiate commoning together.