▪ I. proscribe, v.
(prəʊˈskraɪb)
[ad. L. prōscrīb-ĕre to write in front of; to write before the world, publish by writing, offer in writing for sale, etc.; to ‘post’ a person as condemned to confiscation or outlawry, f. prō, pro-1 1 f + scrīb-ĕre to write.]
† I. 1. trans. To write in front; to prefix in writing. Obs. rare.
Perhaps a scribal error for prescribe: see pro-1 3.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 21 When the compilator [Ranulphus] spekethe, the letter shall be proscribede [L. præscribitur] in this forme folowenge [R]. |
II. 2. To write up or publish the name of (a person) as condemned to death and confiscation of property; to put out of the protection of the law, to outlaw; to banish, exile. Also fig.
| 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 33 b, He..doth condemne, & proscribe him as aucthor of Scismes. 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 637/1 Ro. Vere, Earle of Oxford, was..banished the realme and proscribed. 1678 R. L'Estrange Seneca's Mor. (1776) 200 He that proscribes me today, shall himself be cast out tomorrow. 1840 Thirlwall Greece VII. lvii. 226 He was himself outlawed and proscribed in the name of his sovereign. 1842 Alison Hist. Europe X. lxxvii. 840 A declaration was..signed by all the Powers, which..proscribed Napoleon as a public enemy, with whom neither peace nor truce could be concluded. |
b. To ostracize, to ‘send to Coventry’.
| 1680 Earl Roscom. tr. Horace's Art Poet. 31 Then Poetasters in their raging fits..dreaded and proscrib'd by Men of sense. |
3. To reject, condemn, denounce (a thing) as useless or dangerous; to prohibit, interdict; to proclaim (a district or practice); = proclaim v. 2 e, f.
| 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 319 This Custome is that vncontrouled Lord, that prescribes, and proscribes Lawes at his pleasure. 1768 Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) II. Notes 507 They [plays] have been zealously proscribed by the godly in later ages. 1772 Priestley Inst. Relig. (1782) I. 219 The Stoics..proscribed..Compassion. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. iv. iii. 424 Persons of taste or elegance seem to proscribe it [civet] even from the toilet. 1841 D'Israeli Amen. Lit. (1867) 342 The ecclesiastics in vain proscribed these licentious revelries. 1850 A. Jameson Leg. Monast. Ord. (1863) 194 Before their religion was proscribed and their country confiscated. |
¶ As a literalism of rendering in Rhemish N.T.
| 1582 N.T. (Rhem.) Gal. iii. 1 O sensles Galatians, who hath bewitched you, not to obey the truth, before whose eies Iesus Christ was proscribed [Gr. προεγραϕη; Vulg. præscriptus est; 1388 Wyclif exilid; Tindale, Coverd. described; 1611 euidently set forth; 1881 R.V. openly set forth], being crucified among you? |
Hence proˈscribed ppl. a.
| 1611 B. Jonson Catiline i. i, I hid for thee Thy murder of thy brother,..And writ him in the list of my proscrib'd After thy fact, to save thy little shame. 1689 Shadwell Bury F. 11, As the proscribed emperor was by his perfumes betrayd. 1868 J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. I. 66 A well⁓known favourer of the proscribed opinions. 1869 Rawlinson Anc. Hist. 447 The property of the proscribed was confiscated. |
▪ II. † proscribe
formerly for prescribe: see pro-1 3.
| 1530 Palsgr. 668/1, I proscrybe (Lydgate) for I prescrybe. |