bonesetter

1 9.0

A person who fixes broken or moved bones without training as a doctor

noun
/ˈboʊnˌsɛtər/

Archaic

: huesero

Traditional bonesetters perform no such operations, and there are no scars left behind after healing.

Examples

The bonesetter carefully manipulated the dislocated shoulder back into place.
Many people visit a bonesetter in rural areas for traditional treatments of broken bones.
He refused to be taken to a hospital; instead, he went to the same bonesetter who treated my brother and was all right in a few weeks.

Academic text (1999)
So they had not pressed him, grateful for the money that arrived at regular intervals, enough to keep him in shoes and to pay for the bonesetter when he fell from the apple tree retrieving Hazel's cat.

Fiction book (1993)
Bonesetters use herbs, pepper, tree bark, and other aids, which they rub on the affected parts while setting the bones.

Academic text (1999)
After his fall, he sought the help of a local bonesetter to mend his broken wrist.

Synonyms

sawbones

vsbonesetter

Archaic

2 9.9

A doctor who operates on people to treat injuries

is a traditional practitioner who treats broken or dislocated bones without formal training

How Trained

orthopedist

Specialized

7 6.3

healer

95 3.9

bonesetter

Archaic

1 9.0

Surface Forms

bonesetter singular

bonesetters plural

Morphology

bonesetter = bone + setter (transparent) = bone + set + er

Clear compound of 'bone' + 'setter' (one who sets bones), and 'setter' is a familiar agent noun.

Etymology

Bonesetter is a simple compound of bone ('bone') and set ('to put in place'). So a bonesetter is literally someone who 'puts bones back in place', which is why the word means a person who fixes broken or dislocated bones.