Open to public perusal; -- said of a document conferring
some right or privilege; as, letters patent. See Letters patent, under
3d Letter.
a.
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.
a.
Spreading; forming a nearly right angle with the steam or
branch; as, a patent leaf.
a.
A letter patent, or letters patent; an official document,
issued by a sovereign power, conferring a right or privilege on some
person or party.
a.
A writing securing to an invention.
a.
A document making a grant and conveyance of public lands.
a.
The right or privilege conferred by such a document; hence,
figuratively, a right, privilege, or license of the nature of a patent.
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.