Etymology: < Russian ukaz, < ukazat′ to show, direct, order, decree. Hence also French ukase, oukase, Portuguese ukase, Spanish ucase, German, Danish, Swedish ukas.
1. A decree or edict, having the force of law, issued by the Russian emperor or government.
2. transf. Any proclamation or decree; an order or regulation of a final or arbitrary nature. (OED)
"Like a doctor who realizes that what was taught in medical school twenty years previously may no longer apply, the editor has to realize that time may have passed by the ukases of his sixth-grade English teacher or her first managing editor."
- John E. McIntyre, "Prescription for prescriptivists", 1 September 2011 You Don't Say
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