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patent

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. (Science: botany) 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.