patent
Part of speech: verb
adj
Morphological type: simple
Topics: baking
biology
botany
cooking
food
law
lifestyle
medicine
natural-sciences
pathology
sciences
veterinary
zoology
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.
Inflected forms:
form: patents
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: patenting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: patented
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: patented
pos: verb
tags: past
form: more patent
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most patent
pos: adj
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: To (successfully) register (a new invention) with a government agency to obtain the sole privilege of its manufacture, sale, and use for a specified period.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: To his great credit, Manson refused to patent his invention, as he desired to remove any obstacle to its adoption by other companies.
The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.
gloss: To obtain (over a piece of real property) a specific grant of ownership.
pos: verb
tags: US
historical
transitive
gloss: To be closely associated or identified with (something); to monopolize.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
gloss: Conspicuous; open; unconcealed.
pos: adj
examples: At the departure of Philip he had received instructions, both patent and secret, for his guidance as stadholder of Holland, Friesland, and Utrecht.
gloss: Conspicuous; open; unconcealed.
pos: adj
gloss: Conspicuous; open; unconcealed.
pos: adj
examples: She has a patent ductus arteriosus that will require surgery to close.
gloss: Conspicuous; open; unconcealed.
pos: adj
gloss: Explicit and obvious.
pos: adj
examples: Those claims are patent nonsense.
Again we read at page 174: “Instead of the Universal Roman Catholic Church there existed after 1650 the National Catholic Churches of Spain, France, Austria, Poland, etc. more subject to the Royal supremacy than to the Papal, not, however, so completely as in England.” This is obviously an exaggeration. There never existed in the countries mentioned, least of all in Spain, any National Catholic Church. There would not have existed any such contradictorially-named organization even in England had it not been for the lechery of Henry VIII. Other similar misstatements might be noticed here and there. The author's intention, however, to be just is patent and his success in this respect is noteworthy.
gloss: Especially of a document conferring some privilege or right: open to public perusal or use.
pos: adj
tags: archaic
examples: letters patent
gloss: Appointed or conferred by letters patent.
pos: adj
tags: archaic
examples: [H]e did at last think of an office which do belong to him in case the King do restore every man to his places that ever had been patent, which is to be one of the clerks of the signet, which will be a fine employment for one of his sons.
gloss: Of a branch, leaf, etc.: outspread; also, spreading at right angles to the axis.
pos: adj
gloss: Protected by a legal patent.
pos: adj
examples: a patent right    patent medicines
Madder is eſteemed a very rich Commodity, and what will turn to good profit; ſo that in King Charles I's Time it was made a Patent Commodity.
[H]e took up an old newspaper; / The paper was right easy to peruse; / He read an article the king attacking, / And a long eulogy of "Patent Blacking."
"Yes, I have a pair of eyes," replied Sam, "and that's just it. If they wos a pair o' patent double million magnifyin' gas microscopes of hextra power, p'raps I might be able to see through a flight o' stairs and a deal door; but bein' only eyes you see, my wision's limited."
There, were also a small mouse-trap; a patent corkscrew, too good to be used in common; fragments of a silver tea-spoon, that had, by natural decay, arrived at a dissolution of its parts; […]
gloss: To which someone has, or seems to have, a claim or an exclusive claim; also, inventive or particularly suited for.
pos: adj
tags: broadly
figuratively
examples: ["]Ben, my fine fellow, put your hand into the cupboard, and bring out the patent digester." Mr. Benjamin Allen smiled his readiness, and produced from the closet at his elbow a black bottle half full of brandy.
Derived words: nonpatentability
nonpatentable
nonpatented
patentability
patentable
patentably
patented
patenting
repatent
unpatentability
unpatentable
unpatented
prepatent
Chinese patent medicine
erectopatent
patency
patent fuel
patent hammer
patent inside
patent leather
patent log
patently
patent medicine
patent outside
prepatently
subpatent
subpatently
Translations:
lang: Finnish
word: avoin
lang: Italian
word: pervio