administer

Englisch

Alternative forms

• administre (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English admynistren, from Old French aminister, from Latin administrare (“to manage, execute”), from ad (“to”) + ministrare (“to attend, serve”), from minister (“servant”); see minister.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ədˈmɪnɪstɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To cause to ingest (a drug), either by openly offering or through deceit.

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

   • 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.

2. (transitive) To apportion out, distribute.
   • 1708, [John Philips], “Book I”, in Cyder. […], London: […] J[acob] 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:

     The spelling has been modernized.

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

   • 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.

3. (transitive) To manage oder supervise the conduct, performance oder execution of; to govern oder 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[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:

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

4. (intransitive) To minister (to).

   administering to the sick

5. (law) To settle, as the estate of one who dies without a will, or whose will fails of an executor.
6. 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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

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

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

Related terms

• administration
• administrative
• administrator

Translations

to cause to take by openly offering or through deceit

• Bulgarian: предписвам (bg) (predpisvam)
• Catalan: administrar (ca)
• Czech: podat (cs)
• Dutch: toedienen (nl)
• Finnish: annostella, antaa (fi)
• French: administrer (fr)
• Galician: administrar (gl)
• German: darreichen, verabreichen (de)
• Hungarian: bead (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: podać (pl) pf, podawać (pl) impf, zadać (pl) pf, zadawać (pl) impf, zaaplikować pf, aplikować (pl) impf
• Portuguese: ministrar (pt), administrar (pt), aplicar (pt)
• Romanian: administra (ro)
• Russian: пропи́сывать (ru) impf (propísyvatʹ), прописа́ть (ru) pf (propisátʹ) (prescribe), назнача́ть (ru) impf (naznačátʹ), назна́чить (ru) pf (naznáčitʹ)
• Rusyn: справовати impf (spravovaty)
• Spanish: administrar (es)
• Welsh: gweinyddu (cy)

to work in an administrative capacity; to supervise

• Belarusian: адміністрава́ць impf (administravácʹ)
• Bulgarian: ръководя (bg) (rǎkovodja), управлявам (bg) (upravljavam)
• Catalan: administrar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 管理 (zh) (guǎnlǐ)

• Czech: spravovat (cs)
• Esperanto: administri (eo)
• Finnish: hallita (fi), johtaa (fi), hallinnoida
• French: administrer (fr), gérer (fr)
• Galician: administrar (gl)
• German: verwalten (de), administrieren
• Greek: διοικώ (el) (dioikó)
• Hungarian: adminisztrál (hu), igazgat (hu), vezet (hu), kormányoz (hu), intéz (hu), lebonyolít (hu), levezényel
• Ido: administrar (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: amministrare (it)
• Japanese: 管理する (ja) (kanri suru)
• Latin: administro (la)
• Manchu: ᡴᠠᡩᠠᠯᠠᠮᠪᡳ (kadalambi)
• Maori: minita
• Polish: zarządzać (pl) impf, administrować (pl) impf
• Portuguese: administrar (pt)
• Romanian: administra (ro)
• Russian: управля́ть (ru) impf (upravljátʹ), руководи́ть (ru) impf (rukovodítʹ), администри́ровать (ru) impf (administrírovatʹ)
• Spanish: administrar (es)
• Swedish: administrera (sv)
• Ukrainian: адмініструва́ти (uk) impf (administruváty), управля́ти impf (upravljáty)
• Welsh: goruchwylio (cy), gweinyddu (cy)
• Yiddish: אַדמיניסטרירן (administrirn)

to minister to the sick

• Catalan: administrar (ca)
• Finnish: palvella (fi), hoitaa (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: administrer (fr)

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

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ad.miˈnis.ter/, [äd̪mɪˈnɪs̠t̪ɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ad.miˈnis.ter/, [äd̪miˈnist̪er]

Nomen

administer m (genitive administrī); second declension

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

Declension

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

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	administer	administrī
Genitive	administrī	administrōrum
Dative	administrō	administrīs
Accusative	administrum	administrōs
Ablative	administrō	administrīs
Vocative	administer	administrī

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.