The Collaborative International Dictionary
Authorize \Au"thor*ize\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Authorized; p. pr. & vb. n. Authorizing.] [OE. autorize, F. autoriser, fr. LL. auctorizare, authorisare. See Author.]
To clothe with authority, warrant, or legal power; to give a right to act; to empower; as, to authorize commissioners to settle a boundary.
To make legal; to give legal sanction to; to legalize; as, to authorize a marriage.
To establish by authority, as by usage or public opinion; to sanction; as, idioms authorized by usage.
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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. -
To justify; to furnish a ground for.
--Locke.To authorize one's self, to rely for authority. [Obs.]
Authorizing himself, for the most part, upon other histories.
--Sir P. Sidney.