/pri skrip"sheuhn/ , n.
1. Med.
a. a direction, usually written, by the physician to the pharmacist for the preparation and use of a medicine or remedy.
b. the medicine prescribed: Take this prescription three times a day.
2. an act of prescribing.
3. that which is prescribed.
4. Law.
a. a long or immemorial use of some right with respect to a thing so as to give a right to continue such use.
b. the process of acquiring rights by uninterrupted assertion of the right over a long period of time.
adj.
5. (of drugs) sold only upon medical prescription; ethical. Cf. over-the-counter (def. 2).
[ 1250-1300; ME praescription- (s. of praescriptio ) legal possession (of property), law, order, lit., a writing before, hence, a heading on a document. See PRESCRIPT, -ION ]