[pat-nt or, for 10, 12–15, peyt-; especially Brit. peyt-nt] 
| 1. | the exclusive right granted by a government to an inventor to manufacture, use, or sell an invention for a certain number of years. |
| 2. | an invention or process protected by this right. |
| 3. | an official document conferring such a right; letters patent. |
| 4. | the instrument by which the government of the United States conveys the legal fee-simple title to public land. |
| 5. | patent leather. |
| 6. | protected by a patent; patented: a patent cooling device. |
| 7. | pertaining to, concerned with, or dealing with patents, esp. on inventions: a patent attorney; patent law. |
| 8. | conferred by a patent, as a right or privilege. |
| 9. | holding a patent, as a person. |
| 10. | readily open to notice or observation; evident; obvious: a patent breach of good manners. |
| 11. | made of patent leather: patent shoes. |
| 12. | lying open; not enclosed or shut in: a patent field. |
| 13. | Chiefly Botany. expanded or spreading. |
| 14. | open, as a doorway or a passage. |
| 15. | Phonetics. open, in various degrees, to the passage of the breath stream. |
| 16. | to take out a patent on; obtain the exclusive rights to (an invention, process, etc.) by a patent. |
| 17. | to originate and establish as one's own. |
| 18. | Metallurgy. to heat and quench (wire) so as to prepare for cold-drawing. |
| 19. | to grant (public land) by a patent. |
patent pat·ent (pāt'nt)
n.
A grant made by a government that confers upon the creator of an invention the sole right to make, use, and sell that invention for a set period of time.
An invention protected by such a grant.
Of, relating to, or being a nonprescription drug or other medical preparation that is often protected by a trademark.
(pāt'nt) Not blocked; open.
(pāt'nt ) Spreading open; expanded.
To obtain a patent on or for something, such as an invention.
To invent, originate, or be the proprietor of an idea.
To grant a patent to somone or for something.