LICENSE
license, permission, permit
(noun) the act of giving a formal (usually written) authorization
license, licence, permit
(noun) a legal document giving official permission to do something
license, licence
(noun) freedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable rules or practices (especially in behavior or speech)
license, licence
(noun) 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
license, licence, certify
(verb) authorize officially; “I am licensed to practice law in this state”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
license (countable and uncountable, plural licenses)
A legal document giving official permission to do something; a permit.
The legal terms under which a person is allowed to use a product, especially software.
Freedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable rules or practices (especially in behaviour or speech).
Excessive freedom; lack of due restraint.
(idiomatic) shorthand for driver's license
Usage notes
• In British English, Canadian English, Australian English, Irish English, South African English and New Zealand English the noun is spelt licence and the verb is license.
• The spelling licence is not used for either part of speech in the United States.
Verb
license (third-person singular simple present licenses, present participle licensing, simple past and past participle licensed)
The act of giving a formal (usually written) authorization.
Authorize officially.
Anagrams
• selenic, silence
Source: Wiktionary
Li"cense, n. [Written also licence.] Etym: [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.
Li"cense, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Licensed; p. pr. & vb. n. Licensing.]
Definition: To permit or authorize by license; to give license to; as, to
license a man to preach. Milton. Shak.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition