Adjective

(-)

(of a person or enterprise) having been issued with a licence (by the required authority)

Only licensed exterminators can purchase rat poison in this state.

# (of a shop or restaurant) allowed to sell alcohol

The opening hours of licensed premises are restricted to prevent all-night drinking.

(of an activity) authorized by licence

Even licensed fishing has a major effect on the fish population in the river.

# (of a product) based on an existing piece of intellectual property and sold under licence.

Although they sell well, licensed video games are seldom critically acclaimed.

Adjective

(en adjective)

Relating to the law or to lawyers.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Obama goes troll-hunting , passage=According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.}}

Having its basis in the law.

Being allowed or prescribed by law.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-23, volume=408, issue=8850, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Waking life , passage=After 50 years, legal segregation is a distant memory, and race in America is not the unbridgeable chasm it once was. The country has a black president. The sort of comity that King evoked, in which the descendants of slaves and of slave owners “sit down together at the table of brotherhood”, can be found in many places, including the Deep South. The rate of marriage between blacks and whites is rising.}}

(informal) Above the age of consent or the legal drinking age.