From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
authorize
v 1: grant authorization or clearance for; "Clear the manuscript
for publication"; "The rock star never authorized this
slanderous biography" [syn: authorise, pass,
clear]
2: give or delegate power or authority to; "She authorized her
assistant to sign the papers" [syn: empower,
authorise]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Authorize \Au"thor*ize\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Authorized; p.
pr. & vb. n. Authorizing.] [OE. autorize, F. autoriser, fr.
LL. auctorizare, authorisare. See Author.]
1. To clothe with authority, warrant, or legal power; to give
a right to act; to empower; as, to authorize commissioners
to settle a boundary.
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2. To make legal; to give legal sanction to; to legalize; as,
to authorize a marriage.
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3. To establish by authority, as by usage or public opinion;
to sanction; as, idioms authorized by usage.
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4. To sanction or confirm by the authority of some one; to
warrant; as, to authorize a report.
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A woman's story at a winter's fire,
Authorized by her grandam. --Shak.
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5. To justify; to furnish a ground for. --Locke.
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To authorize one's self, to rely for authority. [Obs.]
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Authorizing himself, for the most part, upon other
histories. --Sir P.
Sidney.
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