Definition of "prescribe" []

• To set down as a rule or guide; enjoin. See Synonyms at dictate. (verb-transitive)
• To order the use of (a medicine or other treatment). (verb-transitive)
• To establish rules, laws, or directions. (verb-intransitive)
• To order a medicine or other treatment. (verb-intransitive)
• Law To assert a right or title to something on the grounds of prescription. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Forbidding the critic to prescribe is itself a prescription."
• "In practice, few care labels prescribe vigorous laundering for table linens."
• "Okada bowed low -- as low as the rules of Japanese etiquette prescribe, which is to say that he bent himself almost double."