proprietary definition | Dictionary.com

pro⋅pri⋅e⋅tar⋅y

[pruh-prahy-i-ter-ee]

adjective, noun, plural -tar⋅ies.

–adjective

1.	belonging to a proprietor.

2.	being a proprietor; holding property: the proprietary class.

3.	pertaining to property or ownership: proprietary wealth.

4.	belonging or controlled as property.

5.	manufactured and sold only by the owner of the patent, formula, brand name, or trademark associated with the product: proprietary medicine.

6.	privately owned and operated for profit: proprietary hospitals.

–noun

7.	an owner or proprietor.

8.	a body of proprietors.

9.	American History. the grantee or owner, or one of the grantees or owners, of a proprietary colony.

10.	ownership.

11.	something owned, esp. real estate.

12.	a proprietary medicine.

13.	Also called proprietary school. a school organized as a profit-making venture primarily to teach vocational skills or self-improvement techniques.

Origin:
1400–50; late ME (n.) < ML proprietārius owner, n. use of LL: of an owner, of ownership. See propriety, -ary

Related forms:

pro⋅pri⋅e⋅tar⋅i⋅ly [pruh-prahy-i-tair-i-lee, -prahy-i-ter-]

, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To proprietary

pro·pri·e·tar·y (prə-prī'ĭ-těr'ē)

adj.

Of, relating to, or suggestive of a proprietor or to proprietors as a group: had proprietary rights; behaved with a proprietary air in his friend's house.
Exclusively owned; private: a proprietary hospital.
Owned by a private individual or corporation under a trademark or patent: a proprietary drug.

n. pl. pro·pri·e·tar·ies

A proprietor.
A group of proprietors.
Ownership; proprietorship.
A proprietary medicine.
One granted ownership of a proprietary colony.

[From Middle English proprietarie, owner of property, from Old French proprietaire and from Medieval Latin proprietārius, both from Late Latin, of a property owner, from Latin proprietās, ownership; see property.]
pro·pri'e·tar'i·ly adv.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Proprietary

Pro*pri"e*ta*ry\, n.; pl. Proprietaries. [L. proprietarius: cf. F. propri['e]taire. See Propriety, and cf. Proprietor.]

1. A proprietor or owner; one who has exclusive title to a thing; one who possesses, or holds the title to, a thing in his own right. --Fuller.

2. A body proprietors, taken collectively.

3. (Eccl.) A monk who had reserved goods and effects to himself, notwithstanding his renunciation of all at the time of profession.

Proprietary

Pro*pri"e*ta*ry\, a. [L. proprietarius.] Belonging, or pertaining, to a proprietor; considered as property; owned; as, proprietary medicine.

Proprietary articles, manufactured articles which some person or persons have exclusive right to make and sell. --U. S. Statutes.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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proprietary

adj.
1. In marketroid-speak, superior; implies a product imbued with exclusive magic by the unmatched brilliance of the company's own hardware or software designers.
2. In the language of hackers and users, inferior; implies a product not conforming to open-systems standards, and thus one that puts the customer at the mercy of a vendor able to gouge freely on service and upgrade charges after the initial sale has locked the customer in. Often in the phrase "proprietary crap".
3. Synonym for closed-source, e.g. software issued in binary without source and under a restructive license.

Since the coining of the term open source, many hackers have made a conscious effort to distinguish between `proprietary' and `commercial' software. It is possible for software to be commercial (that is, intended to make a profit for the producers) without being proprietary. The reverse is also possible, for example in binary-only freeware.

Jargon File 4.2.0
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proprietary

c.1450, "possessing worldly goods in excess of a cleric's needs," from M.L. proprietarius "owner of property," noun use of L.L. adj. proprietarius "of a property holder," from L. proprietas "owner" (see property). Meaning "held in private ownership" is first attested 1589.

Main Entry: pro·pri·e·tary
Pronunciation: pr&-'prI-&-"ter-E
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural -tar·ies
1 : something that is used, produced, or marketed under exclusive legal right of the inventor or maker; specifically : a drug (as a patent medicine) that is protected by secrecy, patent, or copyright against free competition as to name, product, composition, or process of manufacture
2 : a business secretly owned by and run as a cover for an intelligence operation

Main Entry: proprietary
Function: adjective
1 a : held as property of a private owner b : of, relating to, or characteristic of a proprietor <proprietary rights>
2 : used, made, or marketed by one having the exclusive legal right proprietary process>
3 : privately owned and managed and run as a profit-making organization proprietary insurer> proprietary clinic>
4 : of or relating to the acts of a municipality which profit or benefit the municipality and for which it is answerable in negligence

Main Entry: ¹pro·pri·e·tary
Pronunciation: p(r)&-'prI-&-"ter-E
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural -tar·ies
0 : something that is used, produced, or marketed under exclusive legal right of the inventor or maker; specifically : a drug (as a patent medicine)that is protected by secrecy, patent, or copyright against free competition as to name, product, composition, or process of manufacture

Main Entry: ²proprietary
Function: adjective
1 : used, made, or marketed by one having the exclusive legal right proprietary drug>
2 : privately owned and managed and run as a profit-making organization proprietary clinic>

proprietary pro·pri·e·tar·y (prə-prī'ĭ-těr'ē)
adj.

Exclusively owned, as of a hospital.
Owned by an individual or corporation under a trademark or patent, as of a drug.

n.
A proprietary medicine.

proprietary
1. In marketroid-speak, superior; implies a product imbued with exclusive magic by the unmatched brilliance of the company's own hardware or software designers.
2. In the language of hackers and users, inferior; implies a product not conforming to open-systems standards, and thus one that puts the customer at the mercy of a vendor who can inflate service and upgrade charges after the initial sale has locked the customer in.
[The Jargon File]

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