prescribe Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb issue commands or orders for
    order; dictate.

WordNet

Pre*scribe" transitive verb
Etymology
L. praescribere, praescriptum; prae before + scriebe to write. See Scribe.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Prescribed ; present participle & verbal noun Prescribing
Definitions
  1. To lay down authoritatively as a guide, direction, or rule of action; to impose as a peremptory order; to dictate; to appoint; to direct.
    Prescribe not us our duties. Shak.
    Let streams prescribe their fountains where to run. Dryden.
  2. (Med.) To direct, as a remedy to be used by a patient; as, the doctor prescribed quinine. Syn. -- To appoint; order; command; dictate; ordain; institute; establish.
Pre*scribe" intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To give directions; to dictate.
    A forwardness to prescribe to their opinions. Locke.
  2. To influence by long use Obs. Sir T. Browne.
  3. (Med.) To write or to give medical directions; to indicate remedies; as, to prescribe for a patient in a fever.
  4. (Law) To claim by prescription; to claim a title to a thing on the ground of immemorial use and enjoyment, that is, by a custom having the force of law.

Webster 1913