order, prescribe, dictate
(verb) issue commands or orders for
prescribe
(verb) (medicine) order the use of (a treatment, medicine, etc.), usually by written prescription; “the doctor prescribed steroids for my ear trouble”
prescribe
(verb) recommend as beneficial; “my mother prescribes a good night’s sleep as the cure for all ills”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
prescribe (third-person singular simple present prescribes, present participle prescribing, simple past and past participle prescribed)
(medicine) To order (a drug or medical device) for use by a particular patient (under licensed authority).
To specify by writing as a required procedure or ritual; to lay down authoritatively as a guide, direction, or rule of action.
• proscribe
Source: Wiktionary
Pre*scribe", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Prescribed; p. pr & vb. n. Prescribing.] Etym: [L. praescribere, praescriptum; prae before + scriebe to write. See Scribe.]
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.)
Definition: 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", v. i.
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.)
Definition: To write or to give medical directions; to indicate remedies; as, to prescribe for a patient in a fever.
4. (Law)
Definition: 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
9 May 2025
(noun) anything in accord with principles of justice; “he feels he is in the right”; “the rightfulness of his claim”
The word “coffee” entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch “koffie,” borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish “kahve,” borrowed in turn from the Arabic “qahwah.” The Arabic word qahwah was traditionally held to refer to a type of wine.
