noun.
A health professional, such as a physician, psychologist, or nurse, who is directly involved in patient care, as distinguished from one who does only research or administrative work.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
noun.
One who makes a practical study of disease in the persons of those afflicted by it.
noun.
A practical physician whose methods are based on experience rather than on theory; also, a teacher of medicine whose method of instruction is clinical rather than didactic.