Search the Dictionary

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.

One who protects, supports, or countenances; a defender. "Patron of my life and liberty." Shak. "The patron of true holiness." Spenser.

Patron; protecting; favoring. [R.] Sir T. Browne.

To assume the air of a patron, or of a superior and protector, toward; -- used in an unfavorable sense; as, to patronize one's equals.

A covering or protecting for the breast.

A toll or tax paid by passengers, entitling them to safe- conduct and protection. [Obs.] Spelman.

A charm worn as a protection against disease or mischief; an amulet. Coleridge. Now help, ye charming spells and periapts. Shak.

fatlike mass, transparent in thin layers, and somewhat fluorescent. It is used as a bland protective dressing, and as a substitute for fatty materials in ointments. U. S. Pharm.

A branch of a plumularian hydroid specially modified in structure for the protection of the gonothecæ.

nut (Bridge Building), a conical nut applied temporarily to the threaded end of a pin, to protect the thread and guide the pin when it is driven into a hole. Waddell. -- Pilot snake (Zoöl.) (a) A large North American snake (Coluber obsoleus). It is lustrous black, with white edges to some of the scales. Called also mo…

An apron for a child to protect the front part of dress; a tier.

nd covered with glass, but not artificially heated, -- used in winter for the storing and protection of half-hardly plants, and sometimes in the spring as a forcing bed. -- Pit coal, coal dug from the earth; mineral coal. -- Pit frame, the framework over the shaft of a coal mine. -- Pit head, the surface of the grou…

A piece of leather stuffed or padded, worn by fencers to protect the breast. Dryden.

fresh-water turtles in which the neck can not be retracted, but is bent to one side, for protection. The matamata is an example.

nder this limitation the police power, as affecting persons, is the power of the state to protect the public against the abuse of individual liberty, that is, to restrain the individual in the exercise of his rights when such exercise becomes a danger to the community. The tendency of judicial and popular usage is towa…

inst foreign control or conquest, the augmentation of its strength and resources, and the protection of its citizens in their rights, with the preservation and improvement of their morals.

ion; sway; command; government. Power is no blessing in itself but when it is employed to protect the innocent. Swift.

or save from injury or destruction; to guard or defend from evil, harm, danger, etc.; to protect. O Lord, thou preserved man and beast. Ps. xxxvi. 6. Now, good angels preserve the king. Shak.

A protector; a guardian; a presiding genius. [Obs.] Just Apollo, president of verse. Waller.

One who favors prohibitory duties on foreign goods in commerce; a protectionist.