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 rely for
authority. [Obs.]
Authorizing himself, for the most part, upon other
histories.
Sir P. Sidney.
