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.
2. To make legal; to give legal sanction to; to legalize; as, to authorize a marriage.
3. To establish by authority, as by usage or public opinion; to sanction; as, idioms authorized by usage.
4. To sanction or confirm by the authority of some one; to warrant; as, to authorize a report.
A woman's story at a winter's fire,
Authorized by her grandam.
Shak.
5. To justify; to furnish a ground for.
Locke.
To authorize one's self
To authorize one's self , to rely for authority. [Obs.]
Authorizing himself, for the most part, upon other histories.
Sir P. Sidney.
© Webster 1913. | 
