Definition of "licentiate"

licentiate

/laɪˈsɛnʃiət/

noun
plural licentiates
1. A person who holds the academic degree of license.
2. One who has a licence to exercise a profession.
  Quotations
  The college of physicians, in July, 1687, published an edict, requiring all the fellows, candidates, and licentiates, to give gratuitous advice to the neighbouring poor.
  1779–81, Samuel Johnson, "Samuel Garth" in Lives of the Most Eminent English Poet
3. A friar authorized to receive confessions and grant absolution in all places, independently of the local clergy.
  Quotations
  [...] For he had power of confessioun,As seyde him-self, more than a curat,For of his ordre he was licentiat.[...] For he had power of confession,As he said himself, more than a parish priest,For he was licensed by his order.
  late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, General Prologue, The Canterbury Tales, line 218-220
4. One who acts without restraint, or takes a liberty.
  Quotations
  a Licentiate of Paris takes upon him to defend
  1640, Bishop Hall, Christian Moderation