Prescribe

Part of speech: verb (v.)

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. To direct, as a remedy to be used by a patient; as, the doctor prescribed quinine.

Synonyms: appoint; order; command; dictate; ordain; institute; establish.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

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. To write or to give medical directions; to indicate remedies; as, to prescribe for a patient in a fever.

4. 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.