patent
/ˈpætənt/ noun C1- An official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent.
- A grant of a monopoly over the manufacture, sale, and use of goods.
- 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.
- A specific grant of ownership of a piece of real property; a land patent.
- A product in respect of which a patent (sense 1.2.2) has been obtained.
- A licence or (formal) permission to do something.
- A characteristic or quality that one possesses; in particular (hyperbolic) as if exclusively; a monopoly.
- The combination of seven bets on three selections, offering a return even if only one bet comes in.
Plural patents
From the library
Finally, he sniffed the dead man’s lips, and then glanced at the soles of his patent leather boots.
Patent-leather boots had gone round, and Square-toes had hopped over.
“Patent-leathers and Square-toes came in the same cab, and they walked down the pathway together as friendly as possible—arm-in-arm, in all probability.
When they got inside they walked up and down the room—or rather, Patent-leathers stood still while Square-toes walked up and down.
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