License \Li"cense\ (l[imac]"sens), n. [Written also licence.]
[F. licence, L. licentia, fr. licere to be permitted, prob. orig., to be left free to one; akin to linquere to leave. See Loan, and cf. Illicit, Leisure.] 1. Authority or liberty given to do or forbear any act; especially, a formal permission from the proper authorities to perform certain acts or to carry on a certain business, which without such permission would be illegal; a grant of permission; as, a license to preach, to practice medicine, to sell gunpowder or intoxicating liquors.
To have a license and a leave at London to dwell. --P. Plowman.
2. The document granting such permission. --Addison.
3. Excess of liberty; freedom abused, or used in contempt of law or decorum; disregard of law or propriety.
License they mean when they cry liberty. --Milton.
4. That deviation from strict fact, form, or rule, in which an artist or writer indulges, assuming that it will be permitted for the sake of the advantage or effect gained; as, poetic license; grammatical license, etc.
Syn: Leave; liberty; permission.
License \Li"cense\ (l[imac]"sens), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
Licensed (l[imac]"senst); p. pr. & vb. n. Licensing.] To permit or authorize by license; to give license to; as, to license a man to preach. --Milton. Shak.
WordNet (r) 1.6 [wn]
license
n 1: a legal document giving official permission to do something [syn: permit] 2: freedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable rules or practices (especially in behavior or speech) [syn: licence] 3: excessive freedom; lack of due restraint: "when liberty becomes license dictatorship is near"- Will Durant; "the intolerable license with which the newspapers break...the rules of decorum"- Edmund Burke 4: the act of giving a formal (usually written) authorization [syn: permission, permit] v : authorize officially [syn: licence, certify] [ant: decertify]
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