DR

A sarcastic comment made at a dinner party to urge a guest to keep passing the wine. Allegedly, the real Dr. Wright of Norwich was prone to monopolizing the wine because he was such a conversationalist. Primarily heard in UK. Hey Michael, do you know Dr. Wright of Norwich? Let's keep the wine moving, shall we?

A humorous greeting. The phrase refers to Scottish explorer David Livingstone, who was presumed lost in Africa in the mid-19th century. When reporter H.M. Stanley finally located him, he supposedly greeted Livingstone with this now-famous phrase. You must be the gentleman I'm looking for—Doctor Livingstone, I presume?

Instructions given by one's doctor. Acting upon my doctor's orders, I cleared my schedule and spent the week recuperating at home. Samantha, you need to stay off your foot and use your crutches—doctor's orders, remember?

An initialism of "too long; didn't read," used in online communications to indicate that one did not read an online article, post, comment, etc., because it was deemed too long or boring. Sometimes used as a modifier to describe such pieces of writing. Sometimes written "TLDR"; often spelled in lowercase letters. I really want to write "TL;DR" on all these novella-length rants my friend keeps posting on Spacebook. OK, I know that was a huge explanation. The tldr version is that I got burnt out, and I need to take some time away from making ViewTube videos.

Jocular You are who I think you are, are you not? Oh, there you are. Doctor Livingstone, I presume?

that one is strongly advised to do as ordered or as if ordered by a doctor. I have to spend a month in Arizona. Doctor's orders. I'm doing this on doctor's orders, but I don't like it.

A 19th-century explorer named Dr. David Livingstone became something of a national hero through his articles and lectures about his adventures in Africa. In 1864, Livingstone led an expedition to discover the source of the Nile. When little to nothing was heard from or about Livingstone after many years, Europeans and Americans became concerned. In 1871, the publisher of the New York Herald hired Henry Stanley, a newspaper reporter, to find Livingstone. Heading a group of some two hundred men, Stanley headed into the African interior. After nearly eight months he found Livingstone in a small village on the shore of Lake Tanganyika. As Stanley described the encounter, “As I advanced slowly toward him I noticed he was pale, looked wearied . . . I would have embraced him, only, he being an Englishman, I did not know how he would receive me; so I . . . walked deliberately to him, took off my hat, and said, ‘Dr. Livingstone, I presume?' The phrase “‘Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” caught the public's fancy, and any number of would-be wits greeted friends with it until the phrase lost all traces of cleverness. But that never stopped people from continuing to use it long past the public's memory of who Livingstone or Stanley were.