Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1400-1500
Language: French
Origin: Greek dosis, from didonai 'to give'

dose

1 noun
     
Related topics: Drugs, Medicines
dose1 [countable]
1MD the amount of a medicine or a drug that you should take
dose of
Never exceed the recommended dose of painkillers.
high/low dose
Start with a low dose and increase it.
2 an amount of something that you do or experience at one time, especially something unpleasant
a bad/mild dose of flu British English (=making you feel very ill or only slightly ill)
lethal/fatal dose (of something) (=an amount that kills)
a lethal dose of radiation
I quite like Jamie in small doses (=in limited amounts but not a lot or often).
3

like a dose of salts

British English informal very quickly and easily:
The cleaners went through the house like a dose of salts.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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