Definition of Patent

1. Noun. A document granting an inventor sole rights to an invention.

Exact synonyms: Patent Of Invention
Generic synonyms: Document, Papers, Written Document

2. Verb. Obtain a patent for. "Should I patent this invention?"
Generic synonyms: Procure, Secure
Derivative terms: Patentee

3. Adjective. (of a bodily tube or passageway) open; affording free passage. "Patent ductus arteriosus"
Similar to: Unobstructed
Derivative terms: Patency

4. Noun. An official document granting a right or privilege.
Exact synonyms: Letters Patent
Generic synonyms: Instrument, Legal Document, Legal Instrument, Official Document
Category relationships: Jurisprudence, Law

5. Verb. Grant rights to; grant a patent for.
Generic synonyms: Register
Derivative terms: Patentee

6. Adjective. Clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment. "In plain view"

7. Verb. Make open to sight or notice. "His behavior has patented an embarrassing fact about him"
Generic synonyms: Alter, Change, Modify
Derivative terms: Patency

Definition of Patent

1. a. Open; expanded; evident; apparent; unconcealed; manifest; public; conspicuous.

2. n. A letter patent, or letters patent; an official document, issued by a sovereign power, conferring a right or privilege on some person or party.

3. v. t. To grant by patent; to make the subject of a patent; to secure or protect by patent; as, to patent an invention; to patent public lands.

Definition of Patent

1. Noun. A declaration issued by a government agency declaring someone the inventor of a new invention and having the privilege of stopping others from making, using or selling the claimed invention; a letter patent. ¹

2. Noun. A specific grant of ownership of a piece of property; a land patent. ¹

3. Noun. Patent leather: a varnished, high-gloss leather typically used for shoes and accessories. ¹

4. Verb. To successfully register an invention with a government agency; to secure a letter patent. ¹

5. Adjective. (biology) open, unobstructed, expanded. ¹

6. Adjective. explicit and obvious. ¹

7. Adjective. (context: of flour) that is fine, and consists mostly of the inner part of the endosperm ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Patent

1. to obtain a patent (a government grant protecting the rights of an inventor) on [v -ED, -ING, -S]

Medical Definition of Patent

1. 1. 2. Open to public perusal; said of a document conferring some right or privilege; as, letters patent. See Letters patent, under 3d Letter. 3. Appropriated or protected by letters patent; secured by official authority to the exclusive possession, control, and disposal of some person or party; patented; as, a patent right; patent medicines. "Madder . . . In King Charles the First's time, was made a patent commodity." (Mortimer) 4. Spreading; forming a nearly right angle with the steam or branch; as, a patent leaf. Patent leather, a varnished or lacquered leather, used for boots and shoes, and in carriage and harness work. Patent office, a government bureau for the examination of inventions and the granting of patents. Patent right. The exclusive right to an invention, and the control of its manufacture. The right, granted by the sovereign, of exclusive control of some business of manufacture, or of the sale of certain articles, or of certain offices or prerogatives. Patent rolls, the registers, or records, of patents. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Patent

patellas
patellate
patellectomy
patelliform
patelline
patello-adductor reflex
patellofemoral
patellometer
patellula
patellulae
paten
patena
patencies
patency
patens
patent application
patent blue V
patent ductus arteriosus
patent hammer
patent hammers
patent infringement
patent law
patent leather
patent log
patent medicine
patent of invention
patent pool
patent pools
patent right

Literary usage of Patent

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge (1919)
"The scope of the design patent was formerly very broad, but recent decisions ... Mere utility is not sufficient to entitle a new design to letters patent. ..."

2. Journal by Royal Society of Arts (Great Britain) (1875)
"Notice to proceed having been given by the applicant the patent and a warrant for scaling will be prepared and submitted to the Lord Chancellor. ..."

3. Chemical Abstracts by American Chemical Society (1916)
"CONTENTS patent! i Author Index i 1. Apparatus 543 2. Qener al and Physical С homi я try.. 546 t. Radioactivity 668 4. electrochemistry 661 6. ..."

4. Science by American Association for the Advancement of Science (1897)
"that the composition is known and can be seen at the patent Office. The proprietary medicine is a secret preparation protected by a trade mark in this ..."

5. Supreme Court Reporter by Robert Desty, United States Supreme Court, West Publishing Company (1913)
"The term of a United States patent which, under US Rev. ... 3382, would expire with the expiration of the term of a British patent previously granted for ..."

6. United States Supreme Court Reports by United States Supreme Court, Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company, LEXIS Law Publishing (1911)
"The right to surrender the old patent, and receive another in its place, ... And we see nothing in the re-issued patent that may not, without proof to the ..."

7. The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and (1911)
"Under the old law a foreign patentee could take out a patent in America for the ... merely give the same force to a foreign patent or publication that had ..."

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