The character was based on Dr
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Joseph Bell of the Edinburgh Infirmary, whose methods of deduction suggested a system that Holmes developed into a science; his stooge Watson was a skit on Doyle himself.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “The character was based on Dr” mean?
Joseph Bell of the Edinburgh Infirmary, whose methods of deduction suggested a system that Holmes developed into a science; his stooge Watson was a skit on Doyle himself.
Is “The character was based on Dr” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.