Dictionary

A declaration issued by a government agency declaring someone the inventor of a new invention and having the privilege of stopping others from making, using or selling the claimed invention; a letter patent.

A specific grant of ownership of a piece of property; a land patent.

License; formal permission.

Patent leather: a varnished, high-gloss leather typically used for shoes and accessories.

To successfully register an invention with a government agency; to secure a letter patent.

Open, unobstructed, expanded.

Example: That is a patent ductus arteriosus.

Explicit and obvious.

Example: Those claims are patent nonsense.

(of flour) That is fine, and consists mostly of the inner part of the endosperm.

Open; unconcealed; conspicuous.