locum

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   chiefly British: a professional, especially a doctor, who temporarily performs another person's duties

   The clinic hired a locum while its regular physician recovered from surgery.

2. 2
   noun

   a temporary position or period of work as such a substitute

   She accepted a six-week locum at a rural medical practice.

Simplified etymology

Locum is the shortened form, recorded from the early 20th century, of Latin locum tenens, literally “holding the place.” The full expression entered English in the mid-17th century as a general term for a substitute, though locum is now used chiefly for a doctor temporarily replacing another.

A shortening of Latin locum tenens ("one holding a place"). Locum is the accusative of locus ("place"), and tenens is the present participle of tenere ("to hold").

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