patent
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpeɪtənt/
ipa: /ˈpætənt/
enpr: pătʹənt
enpr: pātʹənt
ipa: /ˈpætənt/
ipa: [ˈpʰæ̝ʔn̩t̚]
ipa: /ˈpeɪtənt/
ipa: [ˈpʰe̞ɪʔn̩t̚]
ipa: /ˈpæɪtənt/
ipa: /ˈpætənt/
rhymes: -eɪtənt
rhymes: -ætənt
other: /peɪ-/
other: /pæ-/
other: /pæ-/
other: /peɪ-/
Forms: form: patents
Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English patent (“document granting an office, property, right, title, etc.; document granting permission, licence; papal indulgence, pardon”) [and other forms], which is either:
* a clipping of lettre patent, lettres patente, lettres patentes [and other forms]; or
* directly from Anglo-Norman and Middle French patente (modern French patent), a clipping of Anglo-Norman lettres patentes, Middle French lettres patentes, lettre patente, and Old French patentes lettres (“document granting an office, privilege, right, etc., or making a decree”) (compare Late Latin patēns, littera patēns, litterae patentēs).
For the derivation of Anglo-Norman and Middle French patente (adjective) in lettre patente, see etymology 2 below.
The verb is derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: […] Squib proved clearly by his patent that the house and office did now belong to him.
ref: 1660 February 20 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “February 10th, 1659–1660”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume I, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893, →OCLC, page 52:
text: Philip of Spain had offered a reward of 25,000 crowns, a patent of nobility, and immunity for all past crimes, to the assassinator of the Prince of Orange.
ref: 1858, John M. Neale, A History of the So-called Jansenist Church of Holland, page 116:
topics: law
glosses: An official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent.
topics: law
qualifier: originally
glosses: A grant of a monopoly over the manufacture, sale, and use of goods.
examples: text: The patent situation, too, played a part in this, as often a firm sought to produce something which would achieve a given result, and yet not infringe a patent held by another; or a railway engineer would think of a device of his own that would free him of obligation to some manufacturer.
ref: 1951, T. S. Lascelles, “British Railway Signalling Since 1925”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 226:
text: The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.
ref: 2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, London: Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 Mar 2019, page 55:
topics: law
glosses: A declaration issued by a government agency that the inventor of a new invention has the sole privilege of making, selling, or using the claimed invention for a specified period.
topics: law
glosses: A specific grant of ownership of a piece of real property; a land patent.
glosses: A product in respect of which a patent (sense 1.2.2) has been obtained.
glosses: Ellipsis of patent leather (“a varnished, high-gloss leather typically used for accessories and shoes”).
examples: text: If you be ſo fond ouer her iniquity, giue her patent to offend, for if it touches not you, it comes neere no body.
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 66:
glosses: A licence or (formal) permission to do something.
examples: text: So will I growe, ſo liue, ſo die my Lord, / Ere I will yield my virgin Patent, vp / Vnto his Lordſhippe, whoſe vnwiſhed yoake / My ſoule conſents not to giue ſouerainty.
ref: c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
glosses: A characteristic or quality that one possesses; in particular (hyperbolic) as if exclusively; a monopoly.
topics: gambling
games
glosses: The combination of seven bets on three selections, offering a return even if only one bet comes in.
Derived terms: word: antipatent
word: biopatent
word: blocking patent
word: impatent
word: land patent
word: nonpatent
word: patentee
word: patenter
word: patentese
word: patentholder
word: patentholding
word: patentizing
word: patent leathers
word: patentless
word: patentlike
word: patent office
word: patent of precedence
word: patentometrics
word: patentor
word: patent pool
word: patentspeak
word: patent thicket
word: patent troll
word: patent trolling
word: pat. pend.
word: prepatent
word: submarine patent
word: subpatent
word: triadic patent
word: unpatent