AUTHORIZE

authorize, authorise, pass, clear

(verb) grant authorization or clearance for; “Clear the manuscript for publication”; “The rock star never authorized this slanderous biography”

empower, authorise, authorize

(verb) give or delegate power or authority to; “She authorized her assistant to sign the papers”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Verb

authorize (third-person singular simple present authorizes, present participle authorizing, simple past and past participle authorized)

(transitive) To grant (someone) the permission or power necessary to do (something).

(transitive) To permit (something), to sanction or consent to (something).

Source: Wiktionary

Au"thor*ize, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Authorized (; p. pr. & vb. n. Authorizing.] Etym: [OE. autorize, F. autoriser, fr. LL. auctorizare, authorisare. See Author.]

1. To clothe with authority, warrant, or legal power; to give a right to act; to empower; as, to authorize commissioners to settle a boundary.

2. To make legal; to give legal sanction to; to legalize; as, to authorize a marriage.

3. To establish by authority, as by usage or public opinion; to sanction; as, idioms authorized by usage.

4. To sanction or confirm by the authority of some one; to warrant; as, to authorize a report. A woman's story at a winter's fire, Authorized by her grandam. Shak.

5. To justify; to furnish a ground for. Locke.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition