patent: Meaning and Definition of
pat•ent
Pronunciation: (pat'nt or, for 10, 12–15, pāt'- esp. Brit. pāt'nt), [key]
— n.
- the exclusive right granted by a government to an inventor to manufacture, use, or sell an invention for a certain number of years.
- an invention or process protected by this right.
- an official document conferring such a right; letters patent.
- the instrument by which the government of the United States conveys the legal fee-simple title to public land.
- patent leather.
—adj.
- protected by a patent; patented: a patent cooling device.
- pertaining to, concerned with, or dealing with patents, esp. on inventions: a patent attorney; patent law.
- conferred by a patent, as a right or privilege.
- holding a patent, as a person.
- readily open to notice or observation; evident; obvious: a patent breach of good manners.
- made of patent leather: patent shoes.
- lying open; not enclosed or shut in: a patent field.
- expanded or spreading.
- open, as a doorway or a passage.
- open, in various degrees, to the passage of the breath stream.
—v.t.
- to take out a patent on; obtain the exclusive rights to (an invention, process, etc.) by a patent.
- to originate and establish as one's own.
- to heat and quench (wire) so as to prepare for cold-drawing.
- to grant (public land) by a patent.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.