prescribe
verb
[ prɪˈskrʌɪb ]
• (of a medical practitioner) advise and authorize the use of (a medicine or treatment) for someone, especially in writing.
• "her doctor prescribed sleeping tablets"
• state authoritatively or as a rule that (an action or procedure) should be carried out.
• "rules prescribing five acts for a play are purely arbitrary"
Similar:
stipulate,
lay down,
dictate,
specify,
impose,
set down,
determine,
establish,
fix,
formulate,
appoint,
decree,
order,
command,
pronounce,
ordain,
require,
direct,
enjoin,
make provision for,
promulgate,
Origin:
late Middle English (in the sense ‘confine within bounds’, also as a legal term meaning ‘claim by prescription’): from Latin praescribere ‘direct in writing’, from prae ‘before’ + scribere ‘write’.
