administer
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ədˈmɪn.ɪ.stə/
ipa: /ədˈmɪn.ɪ.stɚ/
Forms: form: administers
form: administering
form: administered
form: administered
form: administre
Etymology: From Middle English administren, from Old French aminister, from Latin administrare (“to manage, execute”), from ad (“to”) + ministrare (“to attend, serve”), from minister (“servant”); see minister.
Senses: examples: text: [Let zephyrs] administer their tepid, genial airs.
ref: 1708, [John Philips], “Book I”, in Cyder. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 3:
text: Justice was administered between man and man with an exactness and purity not before known.
ref: 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
glosses: To apportion out, distribute.
examples: text: For forms of government let fools contest: / Whate'er is best administered is best.
ref: 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:
text: Located in the northwestern side of the Black Sea, Snake Island, or called ostriv Zmiyinyy in Ukrainian and Insula Serpilor in Romanian, is currently administered by Ukraine but claimed by Romania.
ref: 2006, Rongxing Guo, Territorial Disputes and Resource Management: A Global Handbook, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 224:
glosses: To manage or supervise the conduct, performance or execution of; to govern or regulate the parameters for the conduct, performance or execution of; to work in an administrative capacity.
examples: text: administering to the sick
text: A fountain […] administers to the pleasure as well as the plenty of the place.
ref: 1712 September 17 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “SATURDAY, September 6, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 477; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
glosses: To minister (to).
topics: law
glosses: To settle, as the estate of one who dies without a will, or whose will fails of an executor.
examples: text: Swear […] to keep the oath that we administer.
ref: 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
glosses: To give, as an oath.
examples: text: We administered the medicine to our dog by mixing it in his food.
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: To give (a drug, to a patient), be it orally or by any other means.
examples: text: A noxious drug had been administered to him.
ref: 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XV, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: To cause (a patient, human or animal) to ingest (a drug), either by openly offering or through deceit.
Derived terms: administerer
administerial
administrable
administress
coadminister
maladminister
misadminister
overadminister
readminister
self-administer
Related terms: administration
administrative
administrator
route of administration