Doctor Dolittle
2
5.8
- proper noun
- Literature
- I love reading about Doctor Dolittle and his adventures.
Examples
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As a child, she loved reading about Doctor Dolittle and his animal friends.
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"Doctor Dolittle" is a beloved character known for his incredible ability to talk to animals.
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The movie adaptation brought the adventures of Doctor Dolittle to a new generation.
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Many children dream of talking to animals like Doctor Dolittle does in the stories.
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Did you watch the movie about Doctor Dolittle?
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In the movie, "Doctor Dolittle" discovers that he can communicate with various species, which changes his life.
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Hugh Lofting created "Doctor Dolittle," a physician who can speak with animals and understand their needs.
Surface Forms
Morphology
doctor + Dolittle
This is a proper name for a specific fictional character; while 'doctor' is transparent, 'Dolittle' is a surname/pun (not a lexical item) and does not convey the meaning 'can talk to animals'. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words would not be able to derive the character's special ability from the parts, and names are cross-linguistically unpredictable, so the expression is opaque.
Etymology
Doctor Dolittle is a fictional doctor created by Hugh Lofting who can 'talk to animals'. His name sounds like 'do little', a small joke that he did little regular work for people and spent his time caring for animals, so that picture explains why the name means a doctor who can 'talk to animals' today.