patent

Etymology 1

The noun is derived from Middle English patent (“document granting an office, property, right, title, etc.; document granting permission, licence; papal indulgence, pardon”) [and other forms], which is either: * a clipping of lettre patent, lettres patente, lettres patentes [and other forms]; or * directly from Anglo-Norman and Middle French patente (modern French patent), a clipping of Anglo-Norman lettres patentes, Middle French lettres patentes, lettre patente, and Old French patentes lettres (“document granting an office, privilege, right, etc., or making a decree”) (compare Late Latin patens, littera patens, litterae patentes). For the derivation of Anglo-Norman and Middle French patente (adjective) in lettre patente, see etymology 2 below. The verb is derived from the noun.

noun

1. (law)
   1. An official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent.
      Philip of Spain had offered a reward of 25,000 crowns, a patent of nobility, and immunity for all past crimes, to the assassinator of the Prince of Orange. 1858, John M. Neale, A History of the So-called Jansenist Church of Holland, page 116
   2. (specifically)
      1. (originally) A grant of a monopoly over the manufacture, sale, and use of goods.
      2. A declaration issued by a government agency that the inventor of a new invention has the sole privilege of making, selling, or using the claimed invention for a specified period.
         The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll. 8 June 2013, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, London: Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-03-26, page 55
   3. (US, historical) A specific grant of ownership of a piece of real property; a land patent.
2. (by extension) A product in respect of which a patent (sense 1.2.2) has been obtained.
3. (uncountable) Short for patent leather (“a varnished, high-gloss leather typically used for accessories and shoes”).
4. (figurative)
   1. A licence or (formal) permission to do something.
   2. A characteristic or quality that one possesses; in particular (hyperbolic) as if exclusively; a monopoly.
5. (gambling) The combination of seven bets on three selections, offering a return even if only one bet comes in.

verb

1. (transitive, law)
   1. To (successfully) register (a new invention) with a government agency to obtain the sole privilege of its manufacture, sale, and use for a specified period.
      To his great credit, Manson refused to patent his invention, as he desired to remove any obstacle to its adoption by other companies. 1946 November and December, “The Why and The Wherefore: Tablet Exchange Apparatus, L.M.S.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 392
      The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation. 21 June 2013, Karen McVeigh, “US Rules Human Genes Can’t be Patented”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 10
   2. (US, historical) To obtain (over a piece of real property) a specific grant of ownership.
2. (transitive, figurative) To be closely associated or identified with (something); to monopolize.

Etymology 2

From Middle English patent, patente (“wide open; clear, unobstructed; unlimited; of a document: available for public inspection”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman and Middle French patent (modern French patent), and directly from their etymon Latin patēns (“open; accessible, passable; evident, manifest; exposed, vulnerable”), the present active participle of pateō (“to be open; to be accessible, attainable; to be exposed, vulnerable; of frontiers or land: to extent, increase”), from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly”).

adj

1. Conspicuous; open; unconcealed.
   1. (baking) Of flour: fine, and consisting mostly of the inner part of the endosperm of the grain from which it is milled.
   2. (medicine) Open, unobstructed; specifically, especially of the ductus arteriosus or foramen ovale in the heart, having not closed as would have happened in normal development.
      She has a patent ductus arteriosus that will require surgery to close.
   3. (medicine, veterinary medicine) Of an infection: in the phase when the organism causing it can be detected by clinical tests.
2. Explicit and obvious.
   Those claims are patent nonsense.
   Again we read at page 174: “Instead of the Universal Roman Catholic Church there existed after 1650 the National Catholic Churches of Spain, France, Austria, Poland, etc. more subject to the Royal supremacy than to the Papal, not, however, so completely as in England.” This is obviously an exaggeration. There never existed in the countries mentioned, least of all in Spain, any National Catholic Church. There would not have existed any such contradictorially-named organization even in England had it not been for the lechery of Henry VIII. Other similar misstatements might be noticed here and there. The author's intention, however, to be just is patent and his success in this respect is noteworthy. 1916 March, “The Reconciliation of Government with Liberty. By John W[illiam] Burgess, Ph.D., Ju.D., LL.D. Scribner & Sons, New York. 1915. Pp. 410. [book review]”, in The Ecclesiastical Review: A Monthly Publication for the Clergy, volume IV (6th Series; volume LIV overall), number 3, Philadelphia, Pa.: American Ecclesiastical Review; The Dolphin Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 373–374
3. (archaic)
   1. Especially of a document conferring some privilege or right: open to public perusal or use.
      letters patent
   2. Appointed or conferred by letters patent.
4. (botany) Of a branch, leaf, etc.: outspread; also, spreading at right angles to the axis.
5. (law) Protected by a legal patent.
   a patent right    patent medicines
6. (by extension, figurative) To which someone has, or seems to have, a claim or an exclusive claim; also, inventive or particularly suited for.