(formerly) a
doctor specializing in the treatment of mental illness.
n. a former name for what later became known as a
psychiatrist, or one who
treats mental disorders. Originating in the 1800s, this
term came to be used to
refer especially to a physician who was accepted in a
court of
law as an expert in mental disorders and who gave testimony concerning such. The
word derives from the
Latin word alienatus, meaning to deprive of
reason,
insane; earlier meaning, strange.