Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

I will pass on Merriam Webster's definition 1a - "an eminent theologian declared a sound expounder of doctrine by the Roman Catholic Church —called also doctor of the church" 

However, if you have something wrong with you, you doctor it, a synonym for fixing it.  If you buy frozen pizza, you are likely to doctor it by adding your favorite topping so it's somewhat palatable.  (I don't doctor pizza, because I usually hate the crust, but I doctor other foods.)

Doctored documents aren't necessarily fraudulent.  You're fixing whatever is wrong, but it may be that your intention is to remove an ambiguity and prevent a false impression. This is similar to "cooking" the data.  When you conduct an experiment, you don't want to stop with raw data; you need to process it so that it can be consumed readily.  The job of a bookkeeper is to process data in such a manner.  An audit is done to ensure that the data was processed properly.  If someone substitutes cooked data instead of raw data, instead of a nice vegetable stew, you end up with baby food. Yuck!

(Speaking of which, I baked butternut squash last night at 450F instead of 350F.  With potatoes, 45 minutes at 450F, instead of an hour at 350F gives a fluffier potato and a crunchier crust.  At the higher temperature, the squash retains a lot firmer texture, and develops a richer flavor.  To think it took me half a century to learn a better way to make one of my favorite comfort foods!)