I. ˈpat ə nt, ˈpāt- adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin patent-, patens, from present participle of patēre to be open, be exposed, be evident — more at fathom
1.
a. : open to public inspection — used chiefly in the phrase letters patent ; opposed to close
b.
(1) : conferred by letters patent
the subject of a patent privilege — L.H.Edmunds
(2) : endowed with a right or privilege by letters patent (as some London theaters)
(3) : appointed by letters patent
c. law : appropriated or protected by letters patent : secured by letters patent to the exclusive possession and control (as for manufacture) of some person or party : patented
patent foodstuffs have acquired an ever-increasing importance — Friedel Strauss
2. : of, relating to, or concerned with the granting of patents especially for inventions
patent attorney
patent award
patent law
3.
a. : marketed as a proprietary commodity : having patent or trademark protection
a patent can opener
b. : making exclusive or proprietary claims or pretensions : ostensibly original or superlative
peddled his patent notions in season and out
4. : affording free passage : open , unobstructed
the nose patent with no pathological discharge — Journal American Medical Association
5. biology : patulous , spreading
6. archaic : accessible , exposed
a circular temple, patent to the sun — P.J.Bailey
7. : open to view : readily visible or intelligible : evident , obvious
the patent dissolution of the comfortable scheme of scientific materialism — A.N.Whitehead
blaze a new trail against patent stupidity — W.H.Whyte
8. archaic : available for public use
Synonyms: see evident
II. ˈpat ə nt, chiefly Brit also ˈpāt- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English patente, from Anglo-French, from Middle French (in lettres patentes letters patent), feminine of patent, adjective
1. : an official document ; especially : one issued by a sovereign power conferring a right or privilege
when a prince made plebeian a noble … the patent of nobility defined what arms he was to bear — T.B.Wigley
2.
a.
(1) U.S. patent law : a government grant of a monopoly right that gives to one who invents or discovers a new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter or a new and useful improvement thereof the exclusive right for a specific term of 17 years with certain rights of extension to make, use, or sell his invention or discovery or to assign or license less than the full patent right and that when issued is prima facie evidence of its own validity but may be attacked in a federal court
(2) British patent law : a grant by the sovereign that gives the true and first inventor or certain persons claiming under him the right to exclude for 16 years with certain rights of extension others from the manufacture or use of the inventor's commercially vendible, original, and useful article or method or process of manufacture or of control, improvement, or modification thereof or of any such new and useful method or process of testing such manufacture, control, improvement, or modification, that embraces any substance or material and any plant, machinery, or apparatus, and that is sometimes subject in the public interest to compulsory licenses or to revocation
b. : a monopoly or right granted according to United States patent law or British patent law or under similar statutes for the protection of inventions or discoveries that is protected against infringement by remedies provided by such law or statutes and by international conventions executed by the principal nations : letters patent for an invention
3. : something likened to a patent : license , privilege
upstarts and outlaws of religion who were infringing its spiritual patents — W.P.Webb
give her patent to offend — Shakespeare
4.
a. : an instrument making a conveyance or grant of public lands
b. : the land or territory so conveyed
gave these obstinate squatters their legal patents — American Guide Series: Minnesota
a patent of 1500 acres — American Guide Series: New York City
5.
a. : a patented article, device, or process
one of the inventor's many patents
b. : an exclusive property or claim : sole right of control
the techniques of economic stability and expansion are no longer the patent of one party — Raymond Aron
has no patent on that philosophy — Irving Kolodin
6.
a. : patent leather
b. patents plural : patent leather shoes
7. : patent flour
III. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
1.
a. : to grant (someone) a privilege, right, or license by patent
b. : to grant a patent for
patented the device to its inventor
2. : to obtain or secure by patent ; especially : to secure by letters patent exclusive right to make, use, and vend (an invention)
3. : to obtain or grant a patent right to (as land or minerals)
4. : to heat (an iron-base alloy) above the critical temperature and then cool in air or molten lead at about 700° F. ; especially : to produce a structure desired in wire to be cold-drawn