Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A person, especially a physician or cleric, who substitutes temporarily for another.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who holds the place of another; a deputy or temporary substitute.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A substitute or deputy; one filling an office for a time.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A professional person (such as a doctor or clergyman) who temporarily fulfills the duties of another.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone (physician or clergyman) who substitutes temporarily for another member of the same profession

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Medieval Latin locum tenēns : Latin locum, accusative of locus, place + Latin tenēns, present participle of tenēre, to hold.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Existing in English since the seventeenth century: from Medieval Latin locum tenens, “one holding a place”.

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Examples

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