the act of giving a formal (usually written) authorization;
a legal document giving official permission to do something;
freedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable rules or practices (especially in behavior or speech);
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;
authorize officially; "I am licensed to practice law in this state";
