(n.) 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.
(n.) The document granting such permission.
(n.) Excess of liberty; freedom abused, or used in contempt of
law or decorum; disregard of law or propriety.
(n.) 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.
(v. t.) To permit or authorize by license; to give license to;
as, to license a man to preach.
