Word: patent Part of Speech: noun 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. Pronunciation: /ˈpeɪtənt/, /ˈpætənt/, [ˈpʰæ̝ʔn̩t̚], [ˈpʰe̞ɪʔn̩t̚], /ˈpæɪtənt/ 1. An official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: […] Squib proved clearly by his patent that the house and office did now belong to him. Example: 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. 2. A grant of a monopoly over the manufacture, sale, and use of goods. Labels: countable, specifically, uncountable 3. 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. Labels: countable, specifically, uncountable Example: 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. Example: 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. 4. A specific grant of ownership of a piece of real property; a land patent. Labels: US, countable, historical, uncountable 5. A product in respect of which a patent (sense 1.2.2) has been obtained. Labels: broadly, countable, uncountable 6. Ellipsis of patent leather (“a varnished, high-gloss leather typically used for accessories and shoes”). Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, uncountable Example: Louis Carlyle's voice was wonderfully suggestive in its phases of the varying aspects of the speaker himself, and at that moment it conveyed a portrait of Mr Carlyle in his very best early-morning business manner […]. In its crisp yet benign complacency Carrados could almost have sworn to resplendent patent boots, the current shade in suede gloves and a carefully selected picotee. 7. A licence or (formal) permission to do something. Labels: countable, figuratively, uncountable Example: If you be ſo fond ouer her iniquity, giue her patent to offend, for if it touches not you, it comes neere no body. 8. A characteristic or quality that one possesses; in particular (hyperbolic) as if exclusively; a monopoly. Labels: countable, figuratively, uncountable Example: 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. 9. The combination of seven bets on three selections, offering a return even if only one bet comes in. Labels: countable, uncountable