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Webster 1913 Edition

Prescription

Pre-scrip′tion

(prē̍-skrĭp′shŭn)
,
Noun.
[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.
3.
(Law)
A prescribing for title; the claim of title to a thing by virtue of 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.
☞ 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 a right 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 1828 Edition

Prescription

PRESCRIP'TION

,
Noun.
[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, &c. Obligations are lost by prescription, or neglect of prosecution for the time designated by law.

Definition 2024

prescription

prescription

English

Alternative forms

Noun

prescription ‎(plural prescriptions)

  1. (law)
    1. The act of prescribing a rule, law, etc..
      • "Jurisdiction to prescribe" is a state's authority to make its laws applicable to certain persons or activities. -- Richard G. Alexander, Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996: Congress exceeds its jurisdiction to prescribe law. Washington and Lee Law Review, 1997.
    2. Also called limitation and negative prescription. A time period within which a right must be exercised, unless the right will be extinguished.
    3. Also called acquisitive prescription and positive prescription. A time period after which a person who has, in the role of an owner, uninterruptedly, peacefully, and publicly possessed another's property acquires the property. The described process is known as acquisition by prescription and adverse possession.
  2. (medicine, pharmacy) A written order, as by a physician or nurse practitioner, for the administration of a medicine or other intervention. See also scrip.
    • The surgeon wrote a prescription for a pain killer and physical therapy.
  3. (medicine) The prescription medicine or intervention so prescribed.
    • The pharmacist gave her a bottle containing her prescription.
  4. (ophthalmology) The formal description of the lens geometry needed for spectacles, etc..
    • The optician followed the optometrist's prescription for her new eyeglasses.
  5. A piece of advice.
    • "Early to bed and early to rise" is a prescription for a healthy lifestyle.

Synonyms

Translations

Adjective

prescription ‎(not comparable)

  1. (of a drug, etc.) only available with a physician or nurse practitioner's written prescription
    Many powerful pain killers are prescription drugs in the U.S.

Translations

See also

French

Noun

prescription f ‎(plural prescriptions)

  1. prescription (all senses)

Norman

Noun

prescription f ‎(plural prescriptions)

  1. (Jersey) prescription

Etymology

From Middle French, from Old French prescripcion, from Latin praescriptio.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pɹəˈskɹɪpʃən/

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