Etymology 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”). Doublet of doos.
1
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.
2
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 manganism is rare.2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884:
Figuratively A good measure or lengthy experience of something.
a healthy dose of skepticism.
“I had then, as you remember, just returned to London after a lot of Indian Ocean, Pacific, China Seas - a regular dose of the East - six years or so, and I was loafing about, hindering you fellows in your work and invading your homes, just as though I had got a heavenly mission to civilise you.”1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 197:
2 more examples
The prospect of becoming a father is a dose of reality that threatens to bring his dream world crashing down.2001, Susan Stryker, Queer Pulp, page 78:
People who don't get their daily dose of light at the right time of day can end up with worse health.2025 December 9, Veronique Greenwood, “Your Bedroom Probably Isn't Dark Enough”, in TIME:
Don't give a dose to the one you love most. / Give her some marmalade... give her some toast.1972, Shel Silverstein, “Don't Give A Dose to the One You Love Most”:
It would be very expensive to cure a dose here, as well as unbelievably painful.1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 382:
6
Ireland, Colloquial A cold; a common, viral illness of the nasal passage, sometimes with fever.
Etymology 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”). Doublet of doos.
1
To administer a dose (of medicine) to.
"She thought herself broad awake, and I have dosed her with an opiate."1871, George Meredith, The Adventures of Harry Richmond, page 270:
2
To prescribe a dose.
3
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.2016, Pamela Donovan, Drink Spiking and Predatory Drugging: A Modern History, page 71: