The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

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.

   Syn: licence, certify. [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

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.
      [1913 Webster]

            To have a license and a leave at London to dwell.
                                                  --P. Plowman.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The document granting such permission. --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Excess of liberty; freedom abused, or used in contempt of
      law or decorum; disregard of law or propriety.
      [1913 Webster]

            License they mean when they cry liberty. --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Leave; liberty; permission.
        [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

license
    n 1: a legal document giving official permission to do something
         [syn: license, licence, permit]
    2: freedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable
       rules or practices (especially in behavior or speech) [syn:
       license, 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: license, licence]
    4: the act of giving a formal (usually written) authorization
       [syn: license, permission, permit]
    v 1: authorize officially; "I am licensed to practice law in
         this state" [syn: license, licence, certify] [ant:
         decertify, derecognise, derecognize]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

187 Moby Thesaurus words for "license":
   Lehrfreiheit, OK, academic freedom, accredit, admission, agency,
   agentship, allow, allowance, anarchy, approve, assign, assignment,
   assumption, authority, authorization, authorize, blank check,
   brevet, building permit, care, carte blanche, certificate, certify,
   chaos, charge, charter, commission, commissioning, commit,
   commitment, confusion, consent, consign, consignment,
   constitutional freedom, copyright, cure, debauchery, debauchment,
   delegate, delegated authority, delegation, deputation, depute,
   deputize, detach, detail, devolute, devolution, devolve,
   devolve upon, devolvement, diplomatic immunity, discharge,
   disobedience, dispensation, dissipation, dissoluteness, document,
   embassy, empower, empowerment, enable, enfranchise, entitle,
   entrust, entrusting, entrustment, errand, exception, executorship,
   exemption, exequatur, fabulous formless darkness, factorship,
   familiarity, fastness, favor, fishing license, foul-up, franchise,
   freedom, freedom from fear, freedom from want, freedom of worship,
   full power, gallantry, give in charge, give official sanction,
   give power, grant, hassle, hubris, hunting license, immunity,
   imposition, imprimatur, indiscipline, indulgence, insubordination,
   interregnum, irresponsibility, jurisdiction, lawlessness, laxity,
   leave, legalize, legation, legislative immunity, legitimize, let,
   liberties, libertinage, libertinism, liberty, liberty abused,
   licentiousness, lieutenancy, loose, looseness, mandate, misrule,
   mission, mix-up, morass, muddle, mutiny, nihil obstat, office,
   okay, patent, permission, permission to enter, permit,
   plenipotentiary power, post, power of attorney, power to act,
   power vacuum, presumption, presumptuousness, privilege,
   procuration, profligacy, proxy, purview, rakishness, rampant will,
   ratify, regency, regentship, relaxation, release, responsibility,
   run, sanction, screw-up, send out, slackness, snafu, special favor,
   special permission, suffer, task, the Four Freedoms, the run of,
   ticket, ticket of admission, transfer, trust, trusteeship,
   unaccountability, unbridledness, uncontrol, undue liberty,
   unrestraint, validate, venery, vicarious authority, vouchsafement,
   waiver, warrant, wenching, whoring, wildness, willfulness



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

LICENSE, contracts. A right given by some competent authority to do an act,
which without such authority would be illegal. The instrument or writing
which secures this right, is also called a license. Vide Ayl. Parerg, 353;
15 Vin. Ab. 92; Ang. Wat. Co. 61, 85.
     2. A license is express or implied. An express license is one which in
direct terms authorizes the performance of a certain act; as a license to
keep a tavern given by public authority.
     3. An implied license is one which though not expressly given, may be
presumed from the acts of the party having a right to give it. The following
are examples of such licenses: 1. When a man knocks at another's door, and
it is opened, the act of opening the door licenses the former to enter the
house for any lawful purpose. See Hob. 62. A servant is, in consequence of
his employment, licensed to admit to the house, those who come on his
master's business, but only such persons. Selw. N. P. 999; Cro. Eliz. 246.
It may, however, be inferred from circumstances that the servant has
authority to invite whom he pleases to the house, for lawful purposes. See 2
Greenl. Ev. Sec. 427; Entry.
     4. A license is either a bare authority, without interest, or it is
coupled with an interest. 1. A bare license must be executed by the party to
whom it is given in person, and cannot be made over or assigned by him to
another; and, being without consideration, may be revoked at pleasure, as
long as it remains executory; 39 Hen. VI. M. 12, page 7; but when carried
into effect, either partially or altogether, it can only be rescinded, if in
its nature it will admit of revocation, by placing the other side in the
same situation in which he stood before he entered on its execution. 8 East,
R. 308; Palm. 71; S. C. Poph. 151; S. C. 2 Roll. Rep. 143, 152.
     5.-2. When the license is coupled with an interest the authority
conferred is not properly a mere permission, but amounts to a grant, which
cannot be revoked, and it may then be assigned to a third person. 5 Hen. V.,
M. 1, page 1; 2 Mod. 317; 7 Bing. 693; 8 East, 309; 5 B. & C. 221; 7 D. & R.
783; Crabb on R. P. Sec. 521 to 525; 14 S. & R 267; 4 S. & R. 241; 2 Eq.
Cas. Ab. 522. When the license is coupled with an interest, the formalities
essential to confer such interest should be observed. Say. R. 3; 6 East, R.
602; 8 East, R. 310, note. See 14 S. & R. 267; 4 S. & R. 241; 2 Eq. Cas. Ab.
522; 11 Ad. & El. 34, 39; S. C. 39 Eng, C. L. R. 19.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

LICENSE, International law. An authority given by one of two belligerent
parties, to the citizens or subjects of the other, to carry on a specified
trade.
     2. The effects of the license are to suspend or relax the rules of war
to the extent of the authority given. It is the assumption of a state of
peace to the extent of the license. In the country which grants them,
licenses to carry on a pacific commerce are stricti juris, as being
exceptions to the general rule; though they are not to be construed with
pedantic accuracy, nor will every small deviation be held to vitiate the
fair effect of them. 4 Rob. Rep. 8; Chitty, Law of Nat. 1 to 5, and 260; 1
Kent, Com. 164, 85.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

LICENSE, pleading. The name of a plea of justification to an action of
trespass. A license must be specially pleaded, and cannot, like liberum
tenementum, be given in evidence under the general issue. 2. T. R. 166, 108