Quack
[kwæk]
Definition
(noun.) the harsh sound of a duck.
(noun.) an untrained person who pretends to be a physician and who dispenses medical advice.
(verb.) act as a medical quack or a charlatan.
(verb.) utter quacking noises; 'The ducks quacked'.
(adj.) medically unqualified; 'a quack doctor' .
Typed by Eugenia--From WordNet
Definition
(v. i.) To utter a sound like the cry of a duck.
(v. i.) To make vain and loud pretensions; to boast.
(v. i.) To act the part of a quack, or pretender.
(n.) The cry of the duck, or a sound in imitation of it; a hoarse, quacking noise.
(n.) A boastful pretender to medical skill; an empiric; an ignorant practitioner.
(n.) Hence, one who boastfully pretends to skill or knowledge of any kind not possessed; a charlatan.
(a.) Pertaining to or characterized by, boasting and pretension; used by quacks; pretending to cure diseases; as, a quack medicine; a quack doctor.
Edited by Eileen
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Charlatan, empiric, mountebank, impostor, pretender, HUMBUG.
Typed by Lena
Definition
v.i. to cry like a duck: to boast: to practise as a quack.—v.t. to doctor by quackery.—n. the cry of a duck: a boastful pretender to skill which he does not possess esp. medical skill: a mountebank.—adj. pertaining to quackery: used by quacks.—n. Quack′ery the pretensions or practice of a quack esp. in medicine.—adj. Quack′ish like a quack: boastful: trickish.—n. Quack′ism.—v.i. Quack′le (rare) to quack croak.—n. Quack′salver a quack who deals in salves ointments &c.: a quack generally.—adj. Quack′salving.
Checker: Stan
Unserious Contents or Definition
The Duck family's favorite physician.
Inputed by Lennon
Examples
- Mew, Quack quack, Bow-wow! Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- He threw out biting remarks on Lydgate's tricks, worthy only of a quack, to get himself a factitious reputation with credulous people. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Mew, Quack-quack, Bow-wow! Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- It was noteworthy that, following the discovery of salvarsan or 606 by Dr. Ehrlich, the quack doctors began to call their treatments 606. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- He isn't the first quack with a handle to his name. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- The empiric easily degenerates into the quack. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Mrs. Michelson, the fat old foreigner is a quack. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- It is in that way that hard-working medical men may come to be almost as mischievous as quacks, said Lydgate, rather thoughtlessly. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Some there are, and very successful too, mere quacks and fools: and it was to combat and expose such as those, no doubt, that Laughter was made. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- He would have none but a tip-top college man to educate him--none of your quacks and pretenders--no, no. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Those quacks and misanthropes who advertise indelible Japan ink should be made to perish along with their wicked discoveries. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- But the deliberate casuistry of lawyers, quacks, or politicians is not so difficult to deal with. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
Checker: Marie