administer

English

Alternative forms

• administre (obsolete)

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ədˈmɪn.ɪ.stə/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ədˈmɪn.ɪ.stɚ/

  • Audio (US)

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Verb

administer (third-person singular simple present administers, present participle administering, simple past and past participle administered)

1. (transitive) To apportion out, distribute.
   • 1708, [John Philips], “Book I”, in Cyder. , London: J Tonson, , →OCLC, page 3:

     [Let zephyrs] administer their tepid, genial airs.

   • 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:

     A fountain […] administers to the pleasure as well as the plenty of the place.

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     Justice was administered between man and man with an exactness and purity not before known.

2. (transitive) 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.
   • 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. , epistle 3, London: Printed for J Wilford, , →OCLC:

     For forms of government let fools contest: / Whate'er is best administered is best.

   • 2006, Rongxing Guo, Territorial Disputes and Resource Management: A Global Handbook‎, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 224:

     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.

3. (intransitive) To minister (to).

   administering to the sick

4. (law) To settle, as the estate of one who dies without a will, or whose will fails of an executor.
5. To give, as an oath.
   • 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Swear […] to keep the oath that we administer.

6. (transitive, medicine) To give (a drug, to a patient), be it orally or by any other means.

   We administered the medicine to our dog by mixing it in his food.

7. (transitive, medicine) To cause (a patient, human or animal) to ingest (a drug), either by openly offering or through deceit.
   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 15, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     A noxious drug had been administered to him.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• “administer”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “administer”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• administre, mistrained, nitramides

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ad.miˈnis.ter/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ad.miˈnis.ter/,

Noun

administer m (genitive administrī, feminine administra); second declension

1. assistant, helper, supporter
2. attendant
3. priest, minister

Declension

Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).

Related terms

• administra
• administrō

References

• “administer”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “administer”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• administer in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.