Subscribe vs. Prescribe

(ergative) To sign up to have copies of a publication, such as a newspaper or a magazine, delivered for a period of time.

Example: ‘Would you like to subscribe or subscribe a friend to our new magazine, Lexicography Illustrated?’;

To pay for the provision of a service, such as Internet access or a cell phone plan.

To believe or agree with a theory or an idea.

Example: ‘I don’t subscribe to that theory.’;

To pay money to be a member of an organization.

(intransitive) To contribute or promise to contribute money to a common fund.

Example: ‘1913: Theodore Roosevelt, Autobiography — ... under no circumstances could I ever again be nominated for any public office, as no corporation would subscribe to a campaign fund if I was on the ticket, and that they would subscribe most heavily to beat me;’;

(transitive) To promise to give, by writing one's name with the amount.

Example: ‘Each man subscribed ten dollars.’;

To agree to buy shares in a company.

Example: ‘1776: Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations — The capital which had been subscribed to this bank, at two different subscriptions, amounted to one hundred and sixty thousand pounds, of which eighty per cent only was paid up.’;

(transitive) To sign; to mark with one's signature as a token of consent or attestation.

Example: ‘Parties subscribe a covenant or contract; a man subscribes a bond.’; ‘Officers subscribe their official acts, and secretaries and clerks subscribe copies or records.''’;

(archaic) To write (one’s name) at the bottom of a document; to sign (one's name).

(obsolete) To sign away; to yield; to surrender.

(obsolete) To yield; to admit to being inferior or in the wrong.

To declare over one's signature; to publish.

To write underneath, as one's name; to sign (one's name) to a document.

Example: ‘[They] subscribed their names under them.’;

To sign with one's own hand; to give consent to, as something written, or to bind one's self to the terms of, by writing one's name beneath; as, parties subscribe a covenant or contract; a man subscribes a bond.

Example: ‘All the bishops subscribed the sentence.’;

To attest by writing one's name beneath; as, officers subscribe their official acts, and secretaries and clerks subscribe copies or records.

To promise to give, by writing one's name with the amount; as, each man subscribed ten dollars.

To sign away; to yield; to surrender.

To declare over one's signature; to publish.

Example: ‘Either or must shortly hear from him, or I will subscribe him a coward.’;

To sign one's name to a letter or other document.

To give consent to something written, by signing one's name; hence, to assent; to agree.

Example: ‘So spake, so wished, much humbled Eve; but FateSubscribed not.’;

To become surely; - with for.

To yield; to admit one's self to be inferior or in the wrong.

Example: ‘I will subscribe, and say I wronged the duke.’;

To set one's name to a paper in token of promise to give a certain sum.

To enter one's name for a newspaper, a book, etc.

offer to buy, as of stocks and shares;

Example: ‘The broker subscribed 500 shares’;

mark with one's signature; write one's name (on);

Example: ‘She signed the letter and sent it off’; ‘Please sign here’;

adopt as a belief;

Example: ‘I subscribe to your view on abortion’;

pay (an amount of money) as a contribution to a charity or service, especially at regular intervals;

Example: ‘I pledged $10 a month to my favorite radio station’;

receive or obtain by regular payment;

Example: ‘We take the Times every day’;

arrange to receive something, typically a publication, regularly by paying in advance

Example: ‘subscribe to the magazine for twelve months and receive a free limited-edition T-shirt’;

arrange for access to an electronic mailing list or online service

Example: ‘some 40,000 users have subscribed to the service’;

contribute or undertake to contribute a certain sum of money to a fund, project, or cause, typically on a regular basis

Example: ‘he subscribed £400 to the campaign’; ‘he is one of the millions who subscribe to the NSPCC’;

apply to participate in

Example: ‘the course has been fully subscribed’;

apply for or undertake to pay for an issue of shares

Example: ‘the issue was fully subscribed’; ‘they subscribed to the July rights issue at 300p a share’;

(of a bookseller) agree before publication to take (a certain number of copies of a book)

Example: ‘most of the first print run of 15,000 copies has been subscribed’;

express or feel agreement with (an idea or proposal)

Example: ‘we prefer to subscribe to an alternative explanation’;

sign (a will, contract, or other document)

Example: ‘he subscribed the will as a witness’;

sign (one's name) on a will, contract, or other document

Example: ‘he was ordered to subscribe his name’;

sign oneself as

Example: ‘he ventured still to subscribe himself her most obedient servant’;

To order (a drug or medical device) for use by a particular patient (under licensed authority).

Example: ‘The doctor prescribed aspirin.’;

To specify as a required procedure or ritual; to lay down authoritatively as a guide, direction, or rule of action.

Example: ‘The property meets the criteria prescribed by the regulations.’;

To lay down authoritatively as a guide, direction, or rule of action; to impose as a peremptory order; to dictate; to appoint; to direct.

Example: ‘Prescribe not us our duties.’; ‘Let streams prescribe their fountains where to run.’;

To direct, as a remedy to be used by a patient; as, the doctor prescribed quinine.

To give directions; to dictate.

Example: ‘A forwardness to prescribe to their opinions.’;

To influence by long use

To write or to give medical directions; to indicate remedies; as, to prescribe for a patient in a fever.

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.

issue commands or orders for

(of a medical practitioner) advise and authorize the use of (a medicine or treatment) for someone, especially in writing

Example: ‘he was prescribed a course of antibiotics’; ‘her doctor prescribed sleeping tablets’;

recommend (a substance or action) as something beneficial

Example: ‘marriage is often prescribed as a universal remedy’;

state authoritatively or as a rule that (an action or procedure) should be carried out

Example: ‘rules prescribing five acts for a play are purely arbitrary’;