Patent

PATENT

[ˈpætənt]  or  [ˈpeɪtənt]

-noun

1. a government grant to an inventor assuring him the sole right to make, use, and sell his invention for a limited period

2. a document conveying such a grant

3. an invention, privilege, etc., protected by a patent

4. an official document granting a right

5. any right granted by such a document

6 (in the US)

a.  a grant by the government of title to public lands

b.   the instrument by which such title is granted

c.   the land so granted

7. a sign that one possesses a certain quality

-adj.

8. open or available for inspection

9. [ˈpeɪtənt] obvious 

10. concerning protection, appointment, etc., of or by a patent or patents

11. proprietary

12. (especially of a bodily passage or duct) being open or unobstructed

13. (biology) spreading out widely

14. (of plate glass) ground and polished on both sides

-verb (trans.)

15. to obtain a patent for

16. (in the US) to grant (public land or mineral rights) by a patent

17. (metallurgy) . to heat (a metal) above a transformation temperature and cool it at a rate that allows cold working

Shooting against the light

In a patent effort to be novel