Adjacent Words

Prescription definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PRESCRIP'TION, n. [L. proescriptio. See Prescribe.]
1. The act of prescribing or directing by rules; or that which is prescribed; particularly, a medical direction of remedies for a disease and the manner of using them; a recipe.
2. In law, prescribing for title; the claim of title to a thing by virtue of immemorial use and enjoyment; or the right to a thing derived from such use. Prescription differs from custom, which is a local usage. Prescription is a personal usage,usage annexed to the person. Nothing but incorporeal hereditaments can be claimed by prescription.
The use and enjoyment of navigation and fishery in the sea, for any length of time, does not create a title by prescription. The common right of nations to the use and enjoyment of the sea is imprescriptible; it cannot be lost by a particular nation for want of use.
3. In Scots law, the title to lands acquired by uninterrupted possession for the time which the law declares to be sufficient, or 40 years. This is positive prescription. Negative prescription is the loss or omission or a right by neglecting to use it during the time limited by law. This term is also used for limitation, in the recovery of money due by bond, etc. Obligations are lost by prescription, or neglect of prosecution for the time designated by law.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: available only with a doctor's written prescription; "a prescription drug" [ant: nonprescription, over-the- counter] n
1: directions prescribed beforehand; the action of prescribing authoritative rules or directions; "I tried to follow her prescription for success"
2: a drug that is available only with written instructions from a doctor or dentist to a pharmacist; "he told the doctor that he had been taking his prescription regularly" [syn: prescription drug, prescription, prescription medicine, ethical drug] [ant: over-the-counter drug, over-the- counter medicine]
3: written instructions for an optician on the lenses for a given person
4: written instructions from a physician or dentist to a druggist concerning the form and dosage of a drug to be issued to a given patient

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: partly from Middle English prescripcion establishment of a claim, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin praescription-, praescriptio, from Latin, act of writing at the beginning, order, limitation of subject matter, from praescribere; partly from Latin praescription-, praescriptio order Date: 14th century 1. a. the establishment of a claim of title to something under common law usually by use and enjoyment for a period fixed by statute b. the right or title acquired under common law by such possession 2. the process of making claim to something by long use and enjoyment 3. the action of laying down authoritative rules or directions 4. a. a written direction for a therapeutic or corrective agent; specifically one for the preparation and use of a medicine b. a prescribed medicine c. something (as a recommendation) resembling a doctor's prescription <prescriptions for economic recovery> 5. a. ancient or long continued custom b. a claim founded upon ancient custom or long continued use 6. something prescribed as a rule

Britannica Concise

In property law, the effect of the lapse of time in creating and destroying rights. Acquisitive prescription allows an individual, after unequivocal possession for a specific period, to acquire an interest in real property, such as an easement, but not the property itself. See also adverse possession.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 the act or an instance of prescribing. 2 a a doctor's (usu. written) instruction for the composition and use of a medicine. b a medicine prescribed. 3 (in full positive prescription) uninterrupted use or possession from time immemorial or for the period fixed by law as giving a title or right. 4 a an ancient custom viewed as authoritative. b a claim founded on long use. Phrases and idioms: negative prescription the time limit within which an action or claim can be raised. Etymology: ME f. OF f. L praescriptio -onis (as PRESCRIBE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Prescription Pre*scrip"tion, n. [F. prescription, L. praescriptio, an inscription, preface, precept, demurrer, prescription (in sense 3), fr. praescribere. See Prescribe.] 1. The act of prescribing, directing, or dictating; direction; precept; also, that which is prescribed. 2. (Med.) A direction of a remedy or of remedies for a disease, and the manner of using them; a medical recipe; also, a prescribed remedy. 3. (Law) A prescribing for title; the claim of title to a thing by virtue immemorial use and enjoyment; the right or title acquired by possession had during the time and in the manner fixed by law. --Bacon. That profound reverence for law and prescription which has long been characteristic of Englishmen. --Macaulay. Note: Prescription differs from custom, which is a local usage, while prescription is personal, annexed to the person only. Prescription only extends to incorporeal rights, such as aright of way, or of common. What the law gives of common rights is not the subject of prescription. Blackstone. Cruise. Kent. In Scotch law, prescription is employed in the sense in which limitation is used in England and America, namely, to express that operation of the lapse of time by which obligations are extinguished or title protected. Sir T. Craig. Erskine.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Usucaption U`su*cap"tion (?; 277), n. [L. usucapere, usucaptum, to acquire by long use; usu (ablative of usus use) + capere to take: cf. usucapio usucaption.] (Roman Law) The acquisition of the title or right to property by the uninterrupted possession of it for a certain term prescribed by law; -- the same as prescription in common law.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(prescriptions) 1. A prescription is the piece of paper on which your doctor writes an order for medicine and which you give to a chemist or pharmacist to get the medicine. You will have to take your prescription to a chemist. N-COUNT 2. A prescription is a medicine which a doctor has told you to take. The prescription Ackerman gave me isn't doing any good. N-COUNT • If a medicine is available on prescription, you can only get it from a chemist or pharmacist if a doctor gives you a prescription for it. The drug is available on prescription only. PHRASE: usu PHR after v 3. A prescription is a proposal or a plan which gives ideas about how to solve a problem or improve a situation. ...the economic prescriptions of Ireland's main political parties. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Direction, prescript. 2. Custom, usage. 3. (Med.) Recipe.

Moby Thesaurus

Procrustean law, act, adverse possession, aid, alodium, alterative, analeptic, appurtenance, assistance, authority, balm, balsam, bill, birthright, bon ton, boundary, bounds, burgage, bylaw, canon, charge, claim, code, colony, command, commission, confinement, conformity, conjugal right, consuetude, continence, convention, corrective, criterion, cure, custom, de facto, de jure, decree, decretum, demand, dependency, derivative title, dictate, dictation, direction, directive, discipline, divine right, droit, drug, due, edict, enactment, established way, etiquette, faculty, fashion, fee fief, fee position, fee simple, fee simple absolute, fee simple conditional, fee simple defeasible, fee simple determinable, fee tail, feodum, feud, fiefdom, folkway, form, formality, formula, formulary, frankalmoign, free socage, freehold, gavelkind, general orders, guideline, having title to, healing agent, healing quality, help, hold, holding, inalienable right, injunction, institute, institution, instruction, interest, jus, knight service, law, law of nature, lay fee, lease, leasehold, legal claim, legal possession, legislation, lex, limit, limitation, mandate, manner, manners, maxim, measure, medicament, medication, medicine, moderation, mores, natural right, norm, norma, observance, occupancy, occupation, order, order of nature, ordinance, ordonnance, original title, owning, possessing, possession, power, practice, praxis, precept, preoccupancy, preoccupation, preparation, prepossession, prerogative, prescribed form, prescript, presumptive right, pretense, pretension, principle, proper claim, proper thing, property, property right, property rights, proprietary rights, proscription, qualification, receipt, recipe, regulation, relief, remedial measure, remedy, restorative, restrain, restriction, right, ritual, rubric, rule, ruling, seisin, set form, socage, social convention, sovereign remedy, specific, specific remedy, squatting, standard, standard behavior, standard usage, standing custom, standing order, statute, sublease, succor, teaching, tenancy, tenantry, tenure, tenure in chivalry, time-honored practice, title, tradition, underlease, undertenancy, universal law, usage, use, usucapion, vested interest, vested right, villein socage, villeinhold, villenage, way, what is done, wont, wonting