authorize

authorize
    v 1: grant authorization or clearance for; "Clear the manuscript
         for publication"; "The rock star never authorized this
         slanderous biography" [syn: {authorize}, {authorise},
         {pass}, {clear}]
    2: give or delegate power or authority to; "She authorized her
       assistant to sign the papers" [syn: {empower}, {authorise},
       {authorize}]
    

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.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To make legal; to give legal sanction to; to legalize; as,
      to authorize a marriage.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To establish by authority, as by usage or public opinion;
      to sanction; as, idioms authorized by usage.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To sanction or confirm by the authority of some one; to
      warrant; as, to authorize a report.
      [1913 Webster]

            A woman's story at a winter's fire,
            Authorized by her grandam.            --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. To justify; to furnish a ground for. --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

   {To authorize one's self}, to rely for authority. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            Authorizing himself, for the most part, upon other
            histories.                            --Sir P.
                                                  Sidney.
      [1913 Webster]
    

108 Moby Thesaurus words for "authorize":
      OK, accept, accredit, affirm, allow, amen, appoint, approve, arm,
      assign, authenticate, autograph, certificate, certify, charge,
      charter, clothe, clothe with power, commission, commit, confirm,
      consent to, consign, constitute, cosign, countenance, countersign,
      declare lawful, decree, delegate, demand, depute, deputize, detach,
      detail, devolute, devolve, devolve upon, dictate, empower, enable,
      enact, endorse, endow, endue, enfranchise, entitle, entrust,
      establish, formulate, franchise, give in charge, give leave,
      give official sanction, give permission, give power,
      give the go-ahead, give the imprimatur, give thumbs up, impose,
      initial, invest, lay down, legalize, legislate, legitimate,
      legitimatize, legitimize, license, make a regulation, make legal,
      make obligatory, mission, notarize, okay, ordain, pass, pass on,
      pass upon, patent, permit, post, prescribe, privilege,
      put in force, ratify, regulate, require, rubber stamp, sanction,
      say amen to, seal, second, send out, set, sign, sign and seal,
      subscribe to, support, swear and affirm, swear to, transfer,
      undersign, underwrite, validate, visa, vise, warrant