"patents" in the noun sense

1. patent, patent of invention

a document granting an inventor sole rights to an invention

2. patent, letters patent

an official document granting a right or privilege

"patents" in the verb sense

1. patent

obtain a patent for

"Should I patent this invention?"

2. patent

grant rights to grant a patent for

3. patent

make open to sight or notice

"His behavior has patented an embarrassing fact about him"

Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)

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