Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRE-SCRIBE', v.i.

1. To write or give medical directions; to direct what remedies are to be used; as, to prescribe for a patient in a fever.
2. To give law; to influence arbitrarily. A forwardness to prescribe to the opinions of others. – Locke.
3. In law, to claim by prescription; to claim a title to a thing by immemorial use and enjoyment; with for. A man may be allowed to prescribe for a right of way, a common or the like; a man can not prescribe for a castle; he can prescribe only for incorporeal hereditaments. – Blackstone.
4. To influence by long use. [Not in use.] – Brown.