How's my blood pressure looking, you pill bag?

The greatest reference book I have ever come across is the 1971 edition of Webster’s New World Thesauraus. I like its vibrant language and its A-Z listing so much that I have two copies just in case one is struck by lightning (or a “firebolt” as the good book suggests). The English language is a living thing that changes quickly and gets richer in many ways, but I wish we could retain some of the more colorful aspects of its history. Here are the ten best synonyms in this 1971 volume for the word “doctor,” many of which appear in no thesaurus just about 40 years later.

• Bones
• Castor-oil artist
• Doc
• Fixemup
• Interne
• Medicine-dropper
• Medico
• Pill bag
• Sawbones
• Shaman

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