prescribe

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• intransitive verb To set down as a rule, law, or direction.
• intransitive verb To order the use of (a medicine or other treatment).
• intransitive verb To establish rules, laws, or directions.
• intransitive verb To order a medicine or other treatment.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To inscribe beforehand or in front.
• To lay down beforehand, in writing or otherwise, as a rule of action; ordain; appoint; define authoritatively.
• Specifically, to advise, appoint, or designate as a remedy for disease.
• In law, to render invalid through lapse of time or negative prescription.
• Synonyms To order, command, dictate, institute, establish.
• To set rules; lay down the law; dictate.
• To give medical directions; designate the remedies to be used: as, to prescribe for a patient in a fever.
• 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
• To become extinguished or of no validity through lapse of time, as a right, debt, obligation, and the like. See prescription

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb issue commands or orders for