Noah Webster
Dictate
DICTATE, verb transitive [Latin , to speak.]
1. To tell with authority; to deliver, as an order, command, or direction; as, what God has dictated, it is our duty to believe.
2. To order or instruct what is to be said or written; as, a general dictates orders to his troops.
3. To suggest; to admonish; to direct by impulse on the mind. We say, the spirit of God dictated the messages of the prophets to Israel. Conscience often dictates to men the rules by which they are to govern their conduct.
DICTATE, noun
1. An order delivered; a command.
2. A rule, maxim or precept, delivered with authority.
I credit what the Grecian dictates say.
3. Suggestion; rule or direction suggested to the mind; as the dictates of reason or conscience.