search warrant

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A legal order allowing a law enforcement officer to search certain premises for evidence of a crime.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In law, a warrant granted by a justice of the peace to a constable to enter the premises of a person suspected of secreting stolen goods, in order to discover, and if found to seize, the goods.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun law A court order in the form of a warrant, authorizing the search of a home and/or other privacy-protected place(s), notably to seek unlawful possessions, evidence etc. as part of a judicial inquiry

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a warrant authorizing law enforcement officials to search for objects or people involved in the commission of a crime and to produce them in court; the warrant describes the locations where the officials may search