Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Prescribe

Prescribe , transitive verb

[Latin 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. — Shakespeare
Let streams prescribe their fountains where to run. — Dryden
2.
(Medicine) To direct, as a remedy to be used by a patient; as, the doctor prescribed quinine.

Prescribe , intransitive verb

1.
To give directions; to dictate.
A forwardness to prescribe to their opinions. — Locke
2.
To influence by long use [Obsolete] — Sir T. Browne
3.
(Medicine) To write or to give medical directions; to indicate remedies; as, to prescribe for a patient in a fever.
4.
(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.