diff --git a/core/definitions.mk b/core/definitions.mk
index 6abd35571e..7697211c85 100644
--- a/core/definitions.mk
+++ b/core/definitions.mk
@@ -894,7 +894,8 @@ $(call declare-container-license-metadata,$(1),SPDX-license-identifier-Apache-2.
 endef
 
 ###########################################################
-## Declare license dependencies $(2) for non-module target $(1)
+## Declare license dependencies $(2) with optional colon-separated
+## annotations for non-module target $(1)
 ###########################################################
 define declare-license-deps
 $(strip \
@@ -906,7 +907,8 @@ $(strip \
 endef
 
 ###########################################################
-## Declare license dependencies $(2) for non-module container-type target $(1)
+## Declare license dependencies $(2) with optional colon-separated
+## annotations for non-module container-type target $(1)
 ##
 ## Container-type targets are targets like .zip files that
 ## merely aggregate other files.