franchise

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A privilege or right officially granted a person or a group by a government, especially:
2. n. The constitutional or statutory right to vote.
3. n. The establishment of a corporation's existence.
4. n. The granting of certain rights and powers to a corporation.
5. n. Legal immunity from servitude, certain burdens, or other restrictions.
6. n. Authorization granted to someone to sell or distribute a company's goods or services in a certain area.
7. n. A business or group of businesses established or operated under such authorization.
8. n. A brand name under which a series of products is released.
9. n. The territory or limits within which immunity, a privilege, or a right may be exercised.
10. n. A professional sports team.
11. v. To grant a franchise to.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Liberty; freedom from constraint or subjection; independence; enfranchisement.
2. n. A privilege arising from the grant of a sovereign or government, or from prescription, which presupposes a grant; a privilege of a public nature conferred on individuals by grant from government: as, a corporate franchise (the right to be and act as a corporation).
3. n. Specifically, the privilege of voting at public elections; the right of suffrage: distinctively called the elective franchise.
4. n. The district or jurisdiction to which a particular individual or corporate privilege extends; the limits of an immunity.
5. n. An asylum or sanctuary where persons are secure from arrest.
6. n. Nobility of spirit; generosity; highmindedness; magnanimity; liberality.
7. To make free; enfranchise.
8. n. A privilege or grant extended by a municipal corporation to a private corporation or person, as the right to maintain a street-railway, to use streets for water- or gas-mains, etc.

Wiktionary

1. v. transitive To confer certain powers on; grant a franchise to; authorize.
2. v. transitive, rare To set free; invest with a franchise or privilege; enfranchise.
3. n. A right or privilege officially granted to a person, a group of people, or a company by a government.
4. n. An acknowledgment of a corporation's existence and ownership.
5. n. The authorization granted by a company to sell or distribute its goods or services in a certain area.
6. n. A business operating under such authorization.
7. n. A legal exemption from jurisdiction.
8. n. The membership of a corporation or state; citizenship.
9. n. The right to vote at a public election.
10. n. sports The collection of organizations in the history of a sports team; the tradition of a sports team as an entity, extending beyond the contemporary organization.
11. n. business, marketing The positive influence on the buying behavior of customers exerted by the reputation of a company or a brand.
12. n. The loose collection of fictional works pertaining to a particular universe, including literary, film, or television series from various sources.
13. n. obsolete Magnanimity; generosity; liberality; frankness; nobility.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. obsolete Exemption from constraint or oppression; freedom; liberty.
2. n. (LAw) A particular privilege conferred by grant from a sovereign or a government, and vested in individuals; an immunity or exemption from ordinary jurisdiction; a constitutional or statutory right or privilege, esp. the right to vote.
3. n. The district or jurisdiction to which a particular privilege extends; the limits of an immunity; hence, an asylum or sanctuary.
4. n. obsolete, obsolete Magnanimity; generosity; liberality; frankness; nobility.
5. v. To make free; to enfranchise; to give liberty to.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a statutory right or privilege granted to a person or group by a government (especially the rights of citizenship and the right to vote)
2. v. grant a franchise to
3. n. an authorization to sell a company's goods or services in a particular place
4. n. a business established or operated under an authorization to sell or distribute a company's goods or services in a particular area