dose / dōs/ • n. a quantity of a medicine or drug taken or recommended to be taken at a particular time: he took a dose of cough medicine. ∎  an amount of ionizing radiation received or absorbed at one time or over a specified period: a dose of radiation exceeding safety limits. ∎ inf. a venereal infection. ∎ inf. a quantity of something regarded as analogous to medicine in being necessary but unpleasant: I wanted to give you a dose of the hell you put me through.• v. [tr.] administer a dose to (a person or animal): he dosed himself with vitamins. ∎  adulterate or blend (a substance) with another substance: the champagne was dosed with sugar.PHRASES: in small doses inf. when experienced or engaged in a little at a time: computer games are great in small doses.

dose A measure of the extent to which matter has been exposed to ionizing radiation. The absorbed dose is the energy per unit mass absorbed by matter as a result of such exposure. The SI unit is the gray, although it is often measured in rads (1 rad = 0.01 gray; see radiation units). The maximum permissible dose is the recommended upper limit of absorbed dose that a person or organ should receive in a specified period according to the International Commission on Radiological Protection.

dose prescribed quantity of medicine. XV. — F. — late L. dosis — Gr. dósis giving. gift, portion of medicine, f. didónai give.
Hence dose vb. XVII.

dose (dohs) n. a carefully measured quantity of a drug that is prescribed by a doctor to be given to a patient at any one time.