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[pat-nt or for 10, 12–15, peyt-; especially British peyt-nt] /ˈpæt nt or for 10, 12–15, ˈpeɪt-; especially British ˈpeɪt nt/

noun
1.
the exclusive right granted by a government to an inventor to manufacture, use, or sell an invention for a certain number of years.
2.
an invention or process protected by this right.
3.
an official document conferring such a right; .
4.
the instrument by which the government of the United States conveys the legal fee-simple title to public land.
5.
.
adjective, Also, patent (for 10, 12–15)
6.
protected by a patent; patented:
a patent cooling device.
7.
pertaining to, concerned with, or dealing with patents, especially on inventions:
a patent attorney; patent law.
8.
conferred by a patent, as a right or privilege.
9.
holding a patent, as a person.
10.
readily open to notice or observation; evident; obvious:
a patent breach of good manners.
11.
made of :
patent shoes.
12.
lying open; not enclosed or shut in:
a patent field.
13.
Chiefly Botany. expanded or spreading.
14.
open, as a doorway or a passage.
15.
Phonetics. open, in various degrees, to the passage of the breath stream.
verb (used with object)
16.
to take out a patent on; obtain the exclusive rights to (an invention, process, etc.) by a patent.
17.
to originate and establish as one’s own.
18.
Metallurgy. to heat and quench (wire) so as to prepare for cold-drawing.
19.
to grant (public land) by a patent.
/ˈpætənt; ˈpeɪtənt/
noun
1.

2.
an invention, privilege, etc, protected by a patent
3.

4.
(in the US)

5.
a sign that one possesses a certain quality
adjective
6.
open or available for inspection (esp in the phrases letters patent, patent writ)
7.
(ˈpeɪtənt). obvious: their scorn was patent to everyone
8.
concerning protection, appointment, etc, of or by a patent or patents
9.
proprietary
10.
(esp of a bodily passage or duct) being open or unobstructed
11.
(biology) spreading out widely: patent branches
12.
(of plate glass) ground and polished on both sides
verb (transitive)
13.
to obtain a patent for
14.
(in the US) to grant (public land or mineral rights) by a patent
15.
(metallurgy) to heat (a metal) above a transformation temperature and cool it at a rate that allows cold working
n.

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.

patent pat·ent (pāt’nt)
n.

adj.

v. pat·ent·ed, pat·ent·ing, pat·ents