The Collaborative International Dictionary
Patent \Pat"ent\ (p[a^]t"ent or p[=a]t"ent), a. [L. patens, -entis, p. pr. of patere to be open: cf. F. patent. Cf. Fathom.]
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Note: (Oftener pronounced p[=a]t"ent in this sense) Open; expanded; evident; apparent; unconcealed; manifest; public; conspicuous.
He had received instructions, both patent and secret.
--Motley. Open to public perusal; -- said of a document conferring some right or privilege; as, letters patent. See Letters patent, under 3d Letter.
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Appropriated or protected by letters patent; secured by official authority to the exclusive possession, control, and disposal of some person or party; patented; as, a patent right; patent medicines.
Madder . . . in King Charles the First's time, was made a patent commodity.
--Mortimer. -
(Bot.) Spreading; forming a nearly right angle with the steam or branch; as, a patent leaf. Patent leather, a varnished or lacquered leather, used for boots and shoes, and in carriage and harness work. Patent office, a government bureau for the examination of inventions and the granting of patents. Patent right.
The exclusive right to an invention, and the control of its manufacture.
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(Law) The right, granted by the sovereign, of exclusive control of some business of manufacture, or of the sale of certain articles, or of certain offices or prerogatives.
Patent rolls, the registers, or records, of patents.
Wikipedia
A patent office is a governmental or intergovernmental organization which controls the issue of patents. In other words, "patent offices are government bodies that may grant a patent or reject the patent application based on whether the application fulfils the requirements for patentability."
Usage examples of "patent office".
The first officials on the scene -- or at least they claimed that distinction -- had been a group of inspectors from the Royal Patent Office, pressed into emergency industrial duty by a Government contingency plan.
And I hear that they've contacted the Patent Office - I think we can expect some sort of action against the Trigger patent, which is hanging by a thread anyway.
I had written to the patent office early in March about the original patents on both Eager Beaver and Drafting Dan.
It squatted on the stained oak boards before a patent office-chair.
Hay was still not feeling himself since their nocturnal excursion, to which Sprague had not once alluded, as Hay escorted him to the Patent Office the next morning.
The first officials on the sceneor at least they claimed that distinctionhad been a group of inspectors from the Royal Patent Office, pressed into emergency industrial duty by a Government contingency plan.
But even Jeff Bezos, Amazon's legendary founder, expressed doubts regarding the wisdom of the US Patent Office in granting his company the patent.