Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Permission \Per*mis"sion\, n. [L. permissio: cf. F. permission.
   See {Permit}.]
   The act of permitting or allowing; formal consent;
   authorization; leave; license or liberty granted.

         High permission of all-ruling Heaven.    --Milton.

         You have given me your permission for this address.
                                                  --Dryden.

   Syn: Leave; liberty; license.

   Usage: {Leave}, {Permission}. Leave implies that the
          recipient may decide whether to use the license
          granted or not. Permission is the absence on the part
          of another of anything preventive, and in general, at
          least by implication, signifies approval.

Source : WordNet®

permission
     n 1: approval to do something; "he asked permission to leave"
     2: the act of giving a formal (usually written) authorization
        [syn: {license}, {permit}]

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

permission
     
         (Or "file mode") The ability to access (read,
        write, execute, traverse, etc.) a {file} or {directory}.
        Depending on the {operating system}, each file may have
        different permissions for different kinds of access and
        different users or groups of users.
     
        {chmod} ("change mode") is the {UNIX} command to change
        permissions.
     
        (2000-12-07)