<! p. 1051 !>
Pat"ent (pt"ent or pt"ent), a. [L. patens, -entis, p. pr. of patere to
be open: cf. F. patent. Cf. Fathom.] 1. (Oftener pronounced pt"ent in
this sense) Open; expanded; evident; apparent; unconcealed; manifest;
public; conspicuous.
He had received instructions, both patent and secret.
Motley.
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. (Bot.) 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. (a) The exclusive right to an invention, and the
control of its manufacture. (b) (Law) 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.
Pat"ent, n. [Cf. F. patente. See Patent, a.] 1. A letter patent, or
letters patent; an official document, issued by a sovereign power,
conferring a right or privilege on some person or party. Specifically:
(a) A writing securing to an invention. (b) A document making a grant
and conveyance of public lands.
Four other gentlemen of quality remained mentioned in that patent.
Fuller.
In the United States, by the act of 1870, patents for inventions are
issued for seventeen years, without the privilege of renewal except by
act of Congress.
2. The right or privilege conferred by such a document; hence,
figuratively, a right, privilege, or license of the nature of a patent.
If you are so fond over her iniquity, give her patent to offend.
Shak.
Pat"ent, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Patented; p. pr. & vb. n. Patenting.] 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.
Pat"ent*a*ble (?), a. Suitable to be patented; capable of being
patented.
Pat`ent*ee" (?), n. One to whom a grant is made, or a privilege
secured, by patent. Bacon.
Pat"ent-ham"mered (?), a. (Stone Cutting) Having a surface dressed by
cutting with a hammer the head of which consists of broad thin chisels
clamped together.
Pat"ent*ly (?; see Patent, a.), adv. Openly; evidently.
||Pat"e*ra (?), n.; pl. PaterÊ(&?;). [ L., fr. patere to lie open.] 1.
||A saucerlike vessel of earthenware or metal, used by the Greeks and
||Romans in libations and sacrificies.
2. (Arch.) A circular ornament, resembling a dish, often worked in
relief on friezes, and the like.