Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Prohibition \Pro`hi*bi"tion\, n. [L. prohibitio: cf. F.
   prohibition.]
   1. The act of prohibiting; a declaration or injunction
      forbidding some action; interdict.

            The law of God, in the ten commandments, consists
            mostly of prohibitions.               --Tillotson.

   2. Specifically, the forbidding by law of the sale of
      alcoholic liquors as beverages.

   {Writ of prohibition} (Law), a writ issued by a superior
      tribunal, directed to an inferior court, commanding the
      latter to cease from the prosecution of a suit depending
      before it. --Blackstone.

   Note: By ellipsis, prohibition is used for the writ itself.

Source : WordNet®

prohibition
     n 1: a law forbidding the sale of alcoholic beverages; "in 1920
          the 18th amendment to the Constitution established
          prohibition in the US"
     2: a decree that prohibits something [syn: {ban}, {proscription}]
     3: the period from 1920 to 1933 when the sale of alcoholic
        beverages was prohibited in the United States by a
        constitutional amendment [syn: {prohibition era}]
     4: refusal to approve or assent to
     5: the action of prohibiting or inhibiting or forbidding (or an
        instance thereof); "they were restrained by a prohibition
        in their charter"; "a medical inhibition of alcoholic
        beverages"; "he ignored his parents' forbiddance" [syn: {inhibition},
         {forbiddance}]