protected by a patent; patented: a patent cooling device.
pertaining to, concerned with, or dealing with patents, especially 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.
Chiefly Botany. expanded or spreading.
open, as a doorway or a passage.
Phonetics. open, in various degrees, to the passage of the breath stream.
verb (used with object)
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.
Metallurgy. to heat and quench (wire) so as to prepare for cold-drawing.
to grant (public land) by a patent.
Origin of patent
1250–1300; (adj.) Middle English < Latinpatent- (stem of patēns) open, orig. present participle of patēre to stand wide open; (noun) Middle English, short for letters patent, translation of Medieval Latinlitterae patentēs open letters
Related formspat·ent·a·ble, adjectivepat·ent·a·bil·i·ty, nounpat·ent·a·bly, adverbpa·tent·ly, adverbnon·pat·ent·a·bil·i·ty, nounnon·pat·ent·a·ble, adjectivenon·pat·ent·ed, adjectivenon·pat·ent·ly, adverbpre·pat·ent, noun, verb (used with object)un·pat·ent, adjectiveun·pat·ent·a·bil·i·ty, nounun·pat·ent·a·ble, adjectiveun·pat·ent·ed, adjective
C14: via Old French from Latin patēre to lie open; n use, short for letters patent, from Medieval Latin litterae patentes letters lying open (to public inspection)
usage
The pronunciation (ˈpætənt) is heard in letters patent and Patent Office and is the usual US pronunciation for all senses. In Britain (ˈpætənt) is sometimes heard for senses 1, 2 and 3, but (ˈpeɪtənt) is commoner and is regularly used in collocations like patent leather
late 14c., "open letter or document from some authority," shortened form of Anglo-French lettre patent (also in Medieval Latin (litteræ) patentes), literally "open letter" (late 13c.), from Old French patente (see patent (adj.).
The Letters Patent were ... written upon open sheets of parchment, with the Great Seal pendent at the bottom ... [while] the 'Litteræ Clausæ,' or Letters Close, ... being of a more private nature, and addressed to one or two individuals only, were closed or folded up and sealed on the outside. [S.R. Scargill-Bird, "A Guide to the Principal Classes of Documents at the Public Record Office," 1891]
Meaning "a license covering an invention" is from 1580s.
v.
"to obtain right to land," 1670s, from patent (n.). The meaning "copyright an invention" is first recorded 1822, from earlier meaning "obtain exclusive right or monopoly" (1789), a privilege granted by the Crown via letters patent. Related: Patented; patenting.
adj.
late 14c., in letters patent, literally "open letter," from Old French patente, from Latin patentum (nominative patens) "open, lying open," present participle of patere "lie open, be open," from PIE *pete- "to spread" (see pace (n.)). Sense of "open to view, plain, clear" is first recorded c.1500. Related: Patently.
A grant made by a government that confers upon the creator of an invention the sole right to make, use, and sell that invention for a set period of time.
An invention protected by such a grant.
adj.
Of, relating to, or being a nonprescription drug or other medical preparation that is often protected by a trademark.
Not blocked; open.
Spreading open; expanded.
v.
To obtain a patent on or for something, such as an invention.
To invent, originate, or be the proprietor of an idea.
