prescribe

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To set down as a rule or guide; enjoin. See Synonyms at dictate.
2. v. To order the use of (a medicine or other treatment).
3. v. To establish rules, laws, or directions.
4. v. To order a medicine or other treatment.
5. v. Law To assert a right or title to something on the grounds of prescription.
6. v. Law To become invalidated or unenforceable by the process of prescription.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To inscribe beforehand or in front.
2. To lay down beforehand, in writing or otherwise, as a rule of action; ordain; appoint; define authoritatively.
3. Specifically, to advise, appoint, or designate as a remedy for disease.
4. In law, to render invalid through lapse of time or negative prescription.
5. Synonyms To order, command, dictate, institute, establish.
6. To set rules; lay down the law; dictate.
7. To give medical directions; designate the remedies to be used: as, to prescribe for a patient in a fever.
8. In law: To claim by prescription; claim a title to a thing by immemorial use and enjoyment: with for: as, to prescribe for a right of way, of common, or the like
9. To become extinguished or of no validity through lapse of time, as a right, debt, obligation, and the like. See prescription

Wiktionary

1. v. To order (a drug or medical device) for use by a particular patient.
2. v. To specify as a required procedure or ritual.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To lay down authoritatively as a guide, direction, or rule of action; to impose as a peremptory order; to dictate; to appoint; to direct.
2. v. (Med.) To direct, as a remedy to be used by a patient; as, the doctor prescribed quinine.
3. v. To give directions; to dictate.
4. v. obsolete To influence by long use.
5. v. (Med.) To write or to give medical directions; to indicate remedies; as, to prescribe for a patient in a fever.
6. v. (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.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. issue commands or orders for