(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.) 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.
(n.) The document granting such permission.
(v. t.) To permit or authorize by license; to give license to; as, to license a man to preach.