vet

noun

1. 1

   A veterinarian or veterinary surgeon.

   Colin Cameron, a vet who examined the dead animal, said there was "no doubt the kitten would have suffered unnecessarily" before dying.

noun

1. 1

   A veteran (a former soldier or other member of armed forces).

   “A former soldier, sir. A vet. Theyʼre all vets, a little shellshocked.”

verb

1. 1

   To thoroughly check or investigate particularly with regard to providing formal approval.

   The FBI vets all nominees to the Federal bench.

   Sir Humphrey Appleby: Nevertheless we do not admit it (the existence of MI6). Not everyone round this table has been vetted (pun). / Jim Hacker: I thought that's something you do to cats (laugh track). / Sir Humphrey Appleby: Yes indeed, but not ferrets, Minister (laugh track).

   41 year-old Thupten from Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture confirmed this threat of punishment. “The people in my area were very discontent when an election was announced. We knew that the candidates selected had already been carefully vetted by higher Chinese officials, and that our ‘voting’ was mere lip-service to Chinese claims of democracy, but we did it anyway.

   House and Senate Committees are made up of elected legislators who vet the bill and hear from stakeholders and members of the public.

Forms

plural

vets

past tense

vetted

past participle

vetted

present participle

vetting

third person singular

vets