n.
   - a permit from an authority to own or use something, do a particular thing, or carry on a trade (especially in alcohol). 
▸formal or official permission.
 - freedom to behave without restraint.
 - a writer's or artist's freedom to deviate from facts or accepted conventions.
 
 
  Etymology
  ME: via OFr. from L. licentia ‘freedom, licentiousness’ (in med. L. ‘authority, permission’), from licere ‘be lawful or permitted’.