Sign

8 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sign \Sign\, n. [F. signe, L. signum; cf. AS. segen, segn, a
     sign, standard, banner, also fr. L. signum. Cf. {Ensign},
     {Resign}, {Seal} a stamp, {Signal}, {Signet}.]
     That by which anything is made known or represented; that
     which furnishes evidence; a mark; a token; an indication; a
     proof. Specifically:


     (a) A remarkable event, considered by the ancients as
         indicating the will of some deity; a prodigy; an omen.
     (b) An event considered by the Jews as indicating the divine
         will, or as manifesting an interposition of the divine
         power for some special end; a miracle; a wonder.
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               Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of
               the Spirit of God.                   --Rom. xv. 19.
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               It shall come to pass, if they will not believe
               thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first
               sign, that they will believe the voice of the
               latter sign.                         --Ex. iv. 8.
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     (c) Something serving to indicate the existence, or preserve
         the memory, of a thing; a token; a memorial; a monument.
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               What time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty
               men, and they became a sign.         --Num. xxvi.
                                                    10.
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     (d) Any symbol or emblem which prefigures, typifles, or
         represents, an idea; a type; hence, sometimes, a picture.
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               The holy symbols, or signs, are not barely
               significative; but what they represent is as
               certainly delivered to us as the symbols
               themselves.                          --Brerewood.
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               Saint George of Merry England, the sign of victory.
                                                    --Spenser.
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     (e) A word or a character regarded as the outward
         manifestation of thought; as, words are the sign of
         ideas.
     (f) A motion, an action, or a gesture by which a thought is
         expressed, or a command or a wish made known.
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               They made signs to his father, how he would have
               him called.                          --Luke i. 62.
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     (g) Hence, one of the gestures of pantomime, or of a language
         of a signs such as those used by the North American
         Indians, or those used by the deaf and dumb.
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     Note: Educaters of the deaf distinguish between natural
           signs, which serve for communicating ideas, and
           methodical, or systematic, signs, adapted for the
           dictation, or the rendering, of written language, word
           by word; and thus the signs are to be distinguished
           from the manual alphabet, by which words are spelled on
           the fingers.
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     (h) A military emblem carried on a banner or a standard.
         --Milton.
     (i) A lettered board, or other conspicuous notice, placed
         upon or before a building, room, shop, or office to
         advertise the business there transacted, or the name of
         the person or firm carrying it on; a publicly displayed
         token or notice.
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               The shops were, therefore, distinguished by painted
               signs, which gave a gay and grotesque aspect to the
               streets.                             --Macaulay.
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     (j) (Astron.) The twelfth part of the ecliptic or zodiac.
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     Note: The signs are reckoned from the point of intersection
           of the ecliptic and equator at the vernal equinox, and
           are named, respectively, {Aries} ([Aries]), {Taurus}
           ([Taurus]), {Gemini} (II), {Cancer} ([Cancer]), {Leo}
           ([Leo]), {Virgo} ([Virgo]), {Libra} ([Libra]),
           {Scorpio} ([Scorpio]), {Sagittarius} ([Sagittarius]),
           {Capricornus  ([Capricorn]), {Aquarius} ([Aquarius]),
           {Pisces} ([Pisces]). These names were originally the
           names of the constellations occupying severally the
           divisions of the zodiac, by which they are still
           retained; but, in consequence of the procession of the
           equinoxes, the signs have, in process of time, become
           separated about 30 degrees from these constellations,
           and each of the latter now lies in the sign next in
           advance, or to the east of the one which bears its
           name, as the constellation Aries in the sign Taurus,
           etc.
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     (k) (Alg.) A character indicating the relation of quantities,
         or an operation performed upon them; as, the sign +
         (plus); the sign -- (minus); the sign of division /, and
         the like.
     (l) (Med.) An objective evidence of disease; that is, one
         appreciable by some one other than the patient.
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     Note: The terms symptom and and sign are often used
           synonymously; but they may be discriminated. A sign
           differs from a symptom in that the latter is perceived
           only by the patient himself. The term sign is often
           further restricted to the purely local evidences of
           disease afforded by direct examination of the organs
           involved, as distinguished from those evidence of
           general disturbance afforded by observation of the
           temperature, pulse, etc. In this sense it is often
           called physical sign.
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     (m) (Mus.) Any character, as a flat, sharp, dot, etc.
     (n) (Theol.) That which, being external, stands for, or
         signifies, something internal or spiritual; -- a term
         used in the Church of England in speaking of an ordinance
         considered with reference to that which it represents.
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               An outward and visible sign of an inward and
               spiritual grace.                     --Bk. of
                                                    Common Prayer.
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     Note: See the Table of {Arbitrary Signs}, p. 1924.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     {Sign manual}.
     (a) (Eng. Law) The royal signature superscribed at the top of
         bills of grants and letter patent, which are then sealed
         with the privy signet or great seal, as the case may be,
         to complete their validity.
     (b) The signature of one's name in one's own handwriting.
         --Craig. Tomlins. Wharton.
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     Syn: Token; mark; note; symptom; indication; signal; symbol;
          type; omen; prognostic; presage; manifestation. See
          {Emblem}.
          [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sign \Sign\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Signed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Signing}.] [OE. seinen to bless, originally, to make the
     sign of the cross over; in this sense fr. ASS. segnian (from
     segn, n.), or OF. seignier, F. signer, to mark, to sign (in
     sense 3), fr. L. signare to mark, set a mark upon, from
     signum. See {Sign}, n.]
     1. To represent by a sign; to make known in a typical or
        emblematic manner, in distinction from speech; to signify.
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              I signed to Browne to make his retreat. --Sir W.
                                                    Scott.
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     2. To make a sign upon; to mark with a sign.
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              We receive this child into the congregation of
              Christ's flock, and do sign him with the sign of the
              cross.                                --Bk. of Com
                                                    Prayer.
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     3. To affix a signature to; to ratify by hand or seal; to
        subscribe in one's own handwriting.
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              Inquire the Jew's house out, give him this deed,
              And let him sign it.                  --Shak.
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     4. To assign or convey formally; -- used with away.
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     5. To mark; to make distinguishable. --Shak.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sign \Sign\, v. i.
     1. To be a sign or omen. [Obs.] --Shak.
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     2. To make a sign or signal; to communicate directions or
        intelligence by signs.
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     3. Especially: To communicate in {sign language}.
        [PJC]
  
     4. To write one's name, esp. as a token of assent,
        responsibility, or obligation; as, he signed in red ink.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  sign
       adj : used of the language of the deaf [syn: {gestural}, {sign(a)},
              {signed}, {sign-language(a)}]
       n 1: a perceptible indication of something not immediately
            apparent (as a visible clue that something has
            happened); "he showed signs of strain"; "they welcomed
            the signs of spring" [syn: {mark}]
       2: a public display of a (usually written) message; "he posted
          signs in all the shop windows"
       3: any communication that encodes a message; "signals from the
          boat suddenly stopped" [syn: {signal}, {signaling}]
       4: structure displaying a board on which advertisements can be
          posted; "the highway was lined with signboards" [syn: {signboard}]
       5: (astrology) one of 12 equal areas into which the zodiac is
          divided [syn: {sign of the zodiac}, {star sign}, {mansion},
           {house}, {planetary house}]
       6: (medicine) any objective evidence of the presence of a
          disorder or disease; "there were no signs of asphixiation"
       7: having an indicated pole (as the distinction between
          positive and negative electric charges); "he got the
          polarity of the battery reversed"; "charges of opposite
          sign" [syn: {polarity}]
       8: an event that is experienced as indicating important things
          to come; "he hoped it was an augury"; "it was a sign from
          God" [syn: {augury}, {foretoken}, {preindication}]
       9: a gesture that is part of a sign language
       10: a fundamental linguistic unit linking a signifier to that
           which is signified; "The bond between the signifier and
           the signified is arbitrary"--de Saussure
       11: a character indicating a relation between quantities; "don't
           forget the minus sign"
       v 1: mark with one's signature; write one's name (on); "She
            signed the letter and sent it off"; "Please sign here"
            [syn: {subscribe}]
       2: approve and express assent, responsibility, or obligation;
          "All parties ratified the peace treaty"; "Have you signed
          your contract yet?" [syn: {ratify}]
       3: be engaged by a written agreement; "He signed to play the
          casino on Dec. 18"; "The soprano signed to sing the new
          opera"
       4: engage by written agreement; "They signed two new pitchers
          for the next season" [syn: {contract}, {sign on}, {sign up}]
       5: communicate silently and non-verbally by signals or signs;
          "He signed his disapproval with a dismissive hand
          gesture"; "The diner signaled the waiters to bring the
          menu" [syn: {signal}, {signalize}, {signalise}]
       6: place signs, as along a road; "sign an intersection"; "This
          road has been signed"
       7: communicate in sign language; "I don't know how to sign, so
          I could not communicate with my deaf cousin"
       8: make the sign of the cross over someone in order to call on
          God for protection; consecrate [syn: {bless}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  536 Moby Thesaurus words for "sign":
     OK, Roman candle, abandon, abnormality, accent, accent mark,
     accept, accredit, acute disease, adumbration, advertisement,
     affection, affirm, affliction, agent, agree on terms,
     aid to navigation, ailment, alarm, allergic disease, allergy,
     alphabet, alphabetic character, alphabetize, alternate,
     alternative, amber light, amen, analogy, announcement, approve,
     assign, assure, atrophy, attest, attestation, augury, auspice,
     authenticate, authorize, autograph, back, backup,
     bacterial disease, badge, balefire, banner, bar, basis for belief,
     be sponsor for, beacon, beacon fire, beat the drum, bell,
     bell buoy, betokening, betokenment, binary digit, birth defect,
     bit, blight, blinker, blue peter, body of evidence, bond, brand,
     broad hint, broadside, buoy, cancel, capitalize,
     cardiovascular disease, cartouche, caution light, certify,
     chain of evidence, change, changeling, character, characteristic,
     chronic disease, cipher, circulatory disease, close down, clue,
     colophon, comparison, complaint, complication, condensation trail,
     condition, confirm, congenital defect, consign, contract, contrail,
     copy, cosign, counterfeit, countersecure, countersign, course, cue,
     custos, cypher, data, datum, defect, deficiency disease, deformity,
     degenerative disease, deliver, deputy, device, differentia, digit,
     dip, direct, disability, disease, disorder, dispose of, distemper,
     documentation, donate, dot, double, dummy, earmark, emblem, employ,
     enchantment, endemic, endemic disease, endocrine disease, endorse,
     engage, enlist, ensign, ensure, epidemic disease, equal,
     equivalent, ersatz, evidence, exchange, exchange colors, exhibit,
     exponent, expression mark, fact, facts, fake, fantasy, fermata,
     figure, fill-in, flag, flag down, flare, flash, fog bell,
     fog signal, fog whistle, foghorn, foreboding, foreshadow,
     foreshadowing, foreshowing, foretoken, foretokening, forewarning,
     forgo, formalize, functional disease, fungus disease,
     gastrointestinal disease, genetic disease, gentle hint,
     gesticulation, gesture, get rid of, ghost, ghostwriter, give,
     give a signal, give permission, give the go-ahead,
     give the imprimatur, give the nod, give thumbs up, give up, glance,
     glimmer, glimmering, glosseme, go light, gong buoy, graph,
     grapheme, green light, grounds, grounds for belief, guarantee,
     guaranty, hail, hail and speak, half-mast, hallmark, handicap,
     heliograph, hereditary disease, hieroglyph, high sign, hint, hire,
     hoist a banner, hold, iatrogenic disease, icon, ideogram,
     ideograph, idiosyncrasy, illness, image, imitation, implication,
     index, indicant, indication, indicator, indisposition,
     infectious disease, infirmity, initial, initials, ink, inkling,
     innuendo, inscribe, insignia, insinuation, insure,
     international alphabet flag, international numeral pennant,
     intimation, item of evidence, join up, key signature, keynote,
     kick, lead, leer, letter, lexeme, lexical form,
     lexigraphic character, ligature, line, locum tenens, logotype,
     look, make a sign, make over, makeshift, malady, malaise,
     manifestation, mark, marker beacon, material grounds, measure,
     metaphor, metonymy, metronomic mark, miracle, monogram, morbidity,
     morbus, morpheme, motion, movement, muniments, muscular disease,
     mute witness, neurological disease, next best thing, nod, notarize,
     notation, note, notice, nudge, number, numeral, numero,
     nutritional disease, occupational disease, omen, organic disease,
     pandemic disease, parachute flare, pass, pass on, pass upon, path,
     pathological condition, pathology, pause, peculiarity, permit,
     personnel, phonetic character, phonetic symbol, phony, phrase,
     pictographic character, picture, piece of evidence, pilot flag,
     pinch hitter, piste, placard, plant disease, poke, police whistle,
     portent, poster, prefiguration, preindication, premises,
     premonitory shiver, premonitory sign, premonitory symptom, presa,
     present, presignifying, prodigy, prognosis, prognostic,
     prognostication, promise, prompt, proof, property, prophecy,
     protozoan disease, proxy, psychosomatic disease, quarantine flag,
     radio beacon, raise a cry, ratify, reason to believe, rebus,
     red flag, red light, register, release, relevant fact, relief,
     relinquish, reminder, replacement, representation, representative,
     reserves, respiratory disease, retain, ringer, rocket, rockiness,
     rubber stamp, sacrifice, sailing aid, salute, sanction,
     say amen to, scent, seal, second, second string, secondary,
     secondary disease, secure, seediness, segno, semaphore,
     semaphore flag, semaphore telegraph, semasiological unit, sememe,
     shadow, shake hands, shingle, show, sickishness, sickness, sigil,
     sign and seal, sign away, sign for, sign off, sign on, sign over,
     sign up, sign up for, signal, signal beacon, signal bell,
     signal fire, signal flag, signal gong, signal gun, signal lamp,
     signal light, signal mast, signal post, signal rocket, signal shot,
     signal siren, signal tower, signalize, signature, signboard,
     signifiant, significant, signs, slur, soothsay, sound an alarm,
     sound the trumpet, spar buoy, spares, speak, sponsor, spoor, stamp,
     stand behind, stand up for, stand-in, standard, stop light,
     strike a bargain, sub, subscribe, subscribe to, substituent,
     substitute, substitution, succedaneum, suggestion, superseder,
     supplanter, support, sure sign, surrender, surrogate, suspicion,
     swear and affirm, swear to, swell, syllabic, symbol, symbolization,
     symptom, symptomatology, symptomology, symptoms, syndrome,
     synecdoche, take on, telltale, telltale sign, tempo mark, term,
     the nod, the pip, the wink, third string, tie, time signature,
     token, tokening, touch, trace, traces, track, traffic light,
     traffic signal, trail, trait, transcribe, transfer, transliterate,
     turn over, type, undersign, understudy, underwrite, unfurl a flag,
     urogenital disease, utility player, validate, vapor trail, vestige,
     vicar, vice-president, vice-regent, vinculum, virus disease, visa,
     vise, volunteer, waive, wake, warning, warrant, wasting disease,
     watch fire, wave, wave a flag, wave the hand, whisper, white flag,
     wigwag, wigwag flag, wink, witness, wonder, wonderwork, word,
     worm disease, writing, written character, yellow flag
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  SIGN, contracts, evidence. A token of anything; a note or token given 
  without words. 
       2. Contracts are express or implied. The express are manifested viva 
  voce, or by writing; the implied are shown by silence, by acts, or by signs. 
       3. Among all nations find and at all times, certain signs have been 
  considered as proof of assent or dissent; for example, the nodding of the 
  head, and the shaking of hands; 2 Bl. Com. 448; 6 Toull. D. 33; Heinnec., 
  Antiq. lib. 3, t. 23, n. 19; silence and inaction, facts and signs are 
  sometimes very strong evidence of cool reflection, when following a 
  question. I ask you to lend me one hundred dollars, without saying a word 
  you put your hand in your pocket, and deliver me the money. I go into a 
  hotel and I ask the landlord if he can accommodate me and take care of my 
  trunk; without speaking he takes it out of my hands and sends it into his 
  chamber. By this act he doubtless becomes responsible to me as a bailee. At 
  the expiration of a lease, the tenant remains in possession, without any 
  objection from the landlord; this may be fairly interpreted as a sign of a 
  consent that the lease shall be renewed. 13 Serg. & Rawle, 60. 
       4, The learned author of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, in 
  his 44th chapter, remarks, "Among savage nations, the want of letters is 
  imperfectly supplied by the use of visible signs, which awaken attention, 
  and perpetuate the remembrance of any public or private transaction. The 
  jurisprudence of the first Romans exhibited the scenes of a pantomime; the 
  words were adapted to the gestures, and the slightest error or neglect in 
  the forms of proceeding was sufficient to annul the substance of the fairest 
  claim. The communion of the marriage-life was denoted by the necessary 
  elements of fire and water: and the divorced wife resigned, the bunch of 
  keys, by the delivery of which she had been invested with the government of 
  the family. The manumission of a son, or a slave, was performed by turning 
  him round with a gentle blow on the cheek: a work was prohibited by the 
  casting of a stone; prescription was interrupted by the breaking of a 
  branch; the clenched fist was the symbol of a pledge or deposits; the right 
  hand was the gift of faith and confidence. The indenture of covenants was a 
  broken straw; weights and, scales were introduced into every payment, and 
  the heir who accepted a testament, was sometimes obliged to snap his 
  fingers, to cast away his garments, and to leap and dance with real or 
  affected transport. If a citizen pursued any stolen goods into a neighbor's 
  house, he concealed his nakedness with a linen towel, and hid his. face with 
  a mask or basin, lest he should encounter the eyes of a virgin or a matron. 
  In a civil action, the plaintiff touched the ear of his witness seized his 
  reluctant adversary by the neck and implored, in solemn lamentation, the aid 
  of his fellow citizens. The two competitors grasped each other's hand, as if 
  they stood prepared for combat before the tribunal of the praetor: he 
  commanded them to produce the object of the dispute; they went, they 
  returned with measured steps, and a clod of earth was cast at his feet to 
  represent the field for which they contended. This occult science of the 
  words and actions of law, was the inheritance of the pontiffs and 
  patricians. Like the Chaldean astrologers, they announced to their clients 
  the days of business and repose; these important trifles wore interwoven 
  with the religion of Numa; and, after the publication of the Twelve Tables, 
  the Roman people were still enslaved by the ignorance of judicial 
  proceedings. The treachery of some plebeian officers at length revealed the 
  profitable mystery: in a more enlightened age, the legal actions were 
  derided and observed; and the same antiquity which sanctified the practice, 
  obliterated the use and meaning, of this primitive language." 
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  SIGN, measures. In angular measures, a sign is equal to thirty degrees. Vide 
  Measure. 
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  SIGN, mer. law. A board, tin or other substance, on which is painted the 
  name and business of a merchant or tradesman. 
       2. Every man has a right to adopt such a sign as he may please to 
  select, but he has no right to use another's name, without his consent. See 
  Dall. Dict. mot Propriete Industrielle, and the article Trade marks. 
  
  To SIGN. To write one's name to an instrument of writing in order to give 
  the effect intended; the name thus written is called a signature. 
       2. The signature is usually made at the bottom of the instrument but in 
  wills it has been held that when a testator commenced his will With these 
  words;, "I, A B, make this my will," it was a sufficient signing. 3 Lev. 1; 
  and vide Rob. on Wills, 122 1 Will. on Wills, 49, 50; Chit. Cont. 212 Newl. 
  Contr. 173; Sugd. Vend. 71; 2 Stark. Ev. 605, 613; Rob. on Fr. 121; but this 
  decision is said to be absurd. 1 Bro. Civ. Law, 278, n. 16. Vide Merl. 
  Repert. mot Signature, for a history of the origin, of signatures; and also 
  4 Cruise, Dig. h.t. 32, c. 2, s. 73, et seq.; see, generally, 8 Toull. n. 
  94-96; 1 Dall. 64; 5 Whart. R. 386; 2 B. & P 238; 2 M. & S. 286. 
       3. To sign a judgment, is to enter a judgment for want of something 
  which was required to be done; as, for example, in the English practice, if 
  he who is bound to give oyer does not give it within the time required, in 
  such cases, the adverse party may sign judgment against him. 2 T. R. 40; 
  Com. Dig. Pleader, P 1; Barnes, 245.