SOS, Ed lost prescriptions (5)
I believe the answer is:
doses
'prescriptions' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'sos ed lost' is the wordplay.
'lost' indicates anagramming the letters.
'sos'+'ed'='sosed'
'sosed' anagrammed gives 'DOSES'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for doses that I've seen before include "Prescribed amounts of medicine" , "Quanitites of medicine" , "Administers medicine to (someone)" , "Prescribed quantities of medicine" , "Potion portions" .)