quackish


Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Idioms, Encyclopedia.

quack 1

 (kwăk)
n.
The characteristic sound uttered by a duck.
intr.v. quacked, quack·ing, quacks
To utter the characteristic sound of a duck.

[Middle English quek, of imitative origin.]

quack′y adj.

quack 2

 (kwăk)
n.
1. An untrained person who pretends to be a physician and dispenses medical advice and treatment.
2. A charlatan; a mountebank.
adj.
Relating to or characteristic of a quack: a quack cure.
intr.v. quacked, quack·ing, quacks
To act as a medical quack or a charlatan.

[Short for quacksalver.]

quack′er·y n.
quack′ish adj.
quack′ish·ly adv.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Mentioned in ?
References in periodicals archive ?
I define excessive monetary easing to guarantee the stability of the financial system as quantitative easing, and excessive monetary easing to support the economy as quackish easing.
By early September, it had raised $4 million, mostly from the pro-organic, anti-corporate Organic Consumers Fund, independently owned food companies like Clif Bar and Nature's Path, and a supplements distributor run by the quackish natural-health guru Joseph Mercola.
That the doctor who confirms the poisoning diagnosis bears the name Drake might also, as Johnson suggests, indicate we are meant to view his solution to be quackish rather than definitive (17).