prescription

Noun

prescription (countable and uncountable, plural prescriptions)

1. (pharmacy) A written order from an authorized medical practitioner for provision of a medicine or other treatment, such as (ophthalmology) the specific lenses needed for a pair of glasses.
   • The surgeon had written thousands of prescriptions for pain killers without proper examinations before the police raided the clinic.
   • An old traditional prescription for provoking erotic inclinations ran as follows, The toe of the foot of a man, anointed with oil, or honey, or the ashes of a weasel.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 234

   Synonyms:

   scrip, forescript, Rx, ℞

2. The medicine or treatment provided by such an order.
   • I need you to pick up gramma's prescriptions on your way home.
   • "Oh, yes; she is the only sort of person for a nurse. She always," cried Lady Anne, with a sneer, "comes to you with a receipt for a pudding in one hand to make you ill, and then a prescription in the other to cure you."1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 9
3. (figuratively) Any plan of treatment or handling; the treatment or handling thus provided.
   • Early to bed and early to rise is a prescription for a long, healthy, and terrible life.
   • Change is the universal prescription for a wounded spirit. "It will do you so much good," is the constant remark.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Return to Courtenaye Hall”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 145
4. Synonym of enactment, the act of establishing a law, regulation, etc., particularly in writing; an instance of this.
   • A statute that cannot find justification for its prescription in one or more of these principles violates international law.1997, Richard G. Alexander, “Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996: Congress Exceeds Its Jurisdiction to Prescribe Law”, in Washington & Lee Law Review, page 1609

   Synonyms:

   enactment

5. The act of establishing or formalizing ideal norms for language use, as opposed to describing the actual norms of such use; an instance of this.
6. An established time period within which a right must be exercised and after which it is null and permanently unenforceable.

   Synonyms:

   extinctive prescription, liberative prescription

7. An established time period after which a person who has uninterruptedly, peacefully, and publicly used another's property acquires full ownership of it.

   Synonyms:

   acquisitive prescription, usucaption

8. (obsolete) Synonym of self-restraint, limiting of one's actions especially according to a moral code or social conventions.
   • There is an air of prescription about him which is always agreeable to Sir Leicester; he receives it as a kind of tribute.1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 2, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   self-restraint, limiting of one's actions especially according to a moral code or social conventions