Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

License \Li"cense\ (l[imac]"sens), n. [Written also {licence}.]
   [F. licence, L. licentia, fr. licere to be permitted, prob.
   orig., to be left free to one; akin to linquere to leave. See
   {Loan}, and cf. {Illicit}, {Leisure}.]
   1. 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.

            To have a license and a leave at London to dwell.
                                                  --P. Plowman.

   2. The document granting such permission. --Addison.

   3. Excess of liberty; freedom abused, or used in contempt of
      law or decorum; disregard of law or propriety.

            License they mean when they cry liberty. --Milton.

   4. 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.

   Syn: Leave; liberty; permission.

License \Li"cense\ (l[imac]"sens), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
   {Licensed} (l[imac]"senst); p. pr. & vb. n. {Licensing}.]
   To permit or authorize by license; to give license to; as, to
   license a man to preach. --Milton. Shak.

Source : WordNet®

license
     v : authorize officially; "I am licensed to practice law in this
         state" [syn: {licence}, {certify}] [ant: {decertify}]

license
     n 1: a legal document giving official permission to do something
          [syn: {licence}, {permit}]
     2: freedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable
        rules or practices (especially in behavior or speech)
        [syn: {licence}]
     3: excessive freedom; lack of due restraint; "when liberty
        becomes license dictatorship is near"- Will Durant; "the
        intolerable license with which the newspapers break...the
        rules of decorum"- Edmund Burke [syn: {licence}]
     4: the act of giving a formal (usually written) authorization
        [syn: {permission}, {permit}]