house physician
- noun
- /ˈhaʊs fəˈzɪʃən/
- UK
:
médico interno
- Sharon, as resident nurse, pronounced Della dead, then phoned the house physician and obtained a release for the body while Brent and I gave her a bed bath and changed her gown.
Examples
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Seems like he had broken his hand in the fistfight—Sylvia and I had to call the house physician and get him to a hospital.
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Well, I'll give you a letter to the house physician.
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After graduation, Hall obtained a prestigious job as house physician at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
Academic text (2009) -
After graduation, Hall obtained a prestigious job as house physician at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
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The Brown Palace's house physician, Dr. Alfred Mann, worked to dress von Phul's wounds.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A person who treats sick or injured people
∞
7.8
A person who treats sick or injured people
674
3.8
A doctor who finds what is wrong and treats sick or injured people
220
5.7
A doctor in training who lives and works in a hospital under senior doctors
88
4.5
A medical graduate working in a hospital to gain supervised experience
6
8.1
A junior doctor who works in a hospital to learn and get practical experience
5
3.7
A person trained to treat sick or injured people, like a doctor
1
4.1
A doctor who lives and works in a hospital while training under senior staff to care for patients
1
8.3
A doctor who treats sick or hurt people
A person training to be a doctor while working with help from senior doctors in a hospital
A doctor in training who works in a hospital under a senior doctor
A person who is trained to treat people when they are sick
Surface Forms
Morphology
The word 'physician' clearly identifies a doctor, but 'house' here requires an institutional/in‑house or resident sense (doctor attached to a hospital) rather than the basic 'home' meaning a B1 learner is likely to know. Because part of the meaning is compositional but the specialized 'house = resident/in‑house' sense is not fully predictable without exposure, the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
House physician comes from the idea of a doctor who lived in the hospital building. The word house shows they stayed on site and the physician was there to look after patients, so the phrase means 'a doctor who lives at the hospital and cares for patients'.