sign (sin)

[ Nowe nede is sette a signe on every vyne That fertile is, scions of it to take For setting. Palladius , Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 188. Ther ys zette a syne of his fote On a marbulle stone ther as he stode. Political Poems , etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 122. 2. An arbitrary or conventional mark used as an abbreviation for a known meaning; a figure written technically instead of the word or words which it represents, according to prescription or usage: as, mathematical, astronomical, medical, botanical, or musical signs; occult signs; an artist's sign. The most common mathematical signs are those indicating the relations of quantities in arithmetical and algebraic proce es. (See notation, 2.) The principal astronomical signs are those representing the names of the twelve divisions or constellations of the zodiac. (See def. 11.) Others symbolize the sun, the earth, and the other planets, the moon and its different phases, and the first twenty or more of the asteroids or planetoids. (See symbol.) All these, as well as the zodiacal signs, are in form significant of the names or the bodies for which they stand. The eight aspects have also signs, as follows: & conjunction, & opposition, & trine, quadrature, * sextile, and three others very rarely used. In zoology two astronomical signs, & and 9, of Mars and Venus, are constantly used to denote male and female remeaning a young animal of undetermined sex. spectively; to which is sometimes added a plain circle, O, These signs for sex are in a good many of the cuts of insects figured in this volume (see, for example, silk - spider ). In botany indicates a monocarpic plant;, an annual;, a biennial; 24, a perennial; 5, a shrub; 5, a tree; &, a male plant or flower; 2, a female plant or flower; 2, a hermaphrodite plant or flower; ∞, indefinitely numerous; 0=, cotyledons accumbent; O||, cotyledons incumbent, etc. The following signs are in common use in medicine and pharmacy: B. recipe; 3, ounce; f3. fluid ounce; 5, dram; f3, flu i drachm; 9, scruple; m, minim. 3. Something displayed to announce the pres- ence of any one; a cognizance; a standard; a banner. When the great ensign of Me iah blazed, Aloft by angels borne, his sign in heaven. Milton , P. L., vi. 776. 4. An inscribed board, plate, or space, or a symbolical representation or figure, serving IMG:content-1043.png:[blocks in formation] His naturall memorie was very great, to wch he added the art of memorie. He would repeate to you forwards and backwards all the signes from Ludgate to Charing Aubrey, Lives, Thomas Fuller. cro e. 5. A symbolical representation; a symbol; hence, in absolute use, symbolical significance; allusive representation: with in. And on her head a crowne of purest gold Is set, in sign of highest soveraignty. Spenser, Hymn of Heavenly Beauty, 1. 191. There is idolatry in worshipping the outward sign of bread and wine. J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc., 1853), II. 44. By cro arms, the lover's sign, Vow. Middle ton and Rowley , Spanish Gypsy, iv. 1. 6. A representative or indicative thing; a tangible, audible, or historical token, symbol, or memento; an exponent or indicator: as, words are the signs of thought; the ruin is a sign of past grandeur. The fire devoured two hundred and fifty men; and they became a sign . Num. xxvi. 10. This would be to make them [words] signs of his own conceptions, and yet apply them to other ideas. Locke, Human Understanding, III. ii. 2. That autumn star, The baleful sign of fevers. M. Arnold, Sohrab and Rustum. 5623 power, and authenticating a me age or me enger (Acts ii. 22, vii. 36; 1 Cor. i. 22); a miraculous manifestation or warning; a portent; an omen. Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. John iv. 48. Signs , both in heaven and earth, were manifested whenever an emperor was about to die. Lecky , Europ. Morals, I. 274. 9. A motion or gesture intended to expre thought or convey an idea; a movement of the hand or some other part of the body having a natural or conventional significance: as, the instinctive, artificial, or alphabetical signs of the deaf and dumb; pantomimic signs; to manifest a ent by a sign. Hold up thy hand, make signal of thy hope. He dies, and makes no sign . O God, forgive him! Shak ., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 3. 28. There din'd this day at my Lord's one Sr John Gaudy, a very handsome person, but quite dumb, yet very intelligent by signes. Evelyn , Diary, Sept. 7, 1677. As sign and glance eked out the unfinish'd tale. Scott , Vision of Don Roderick, The Vision, st. 7. No sign, By touch or mark, he gave me as he pa ed. Lowell , Parting of the Ways. 10t. A spoken symbol; a signal-cry; a watchword: a use still seen in countersign. Thou Saint George shalt called bee, Saint George of mery England, the signe of victoree. Spenser, F. Q., I. x. 61. 11. One of the twelve divisions of the zodiac, each comprising 30 degrees of the ecliptic, and marked as to position by a constellation or by a syn group of stars, the name of which is represented by a symbolical figure or sign of ancient origin th The zodiacal signs are Aries, the Ram; Tau rus, the Bull; II Gemini, the Twins; Cancer, the Crab; Leo, the Lion; Virgo, the Maid; Libra, the Balance; Scorpio, the Scorpion; Sag it tar i us, the Archer; Capric or nus, the Goat; Aquarius, the Water-bearer; Pisces, the Fishes. Owing to the prece ion of the equinoxes, the signs have now moved quite away from the constellations from which they take their names. See zodiac. In Aries, the colerik hote signe. Chaucer, Squire's Tale, 1. 43. I was looking very attentively on that sign in the heavens which is called by the name of the Balance, when on a sudden there appeared in it an extraordinary light. Add is on, Tatler, No. 100. Acce ory signs. Same as a ident signs. - Airy sign, in astrol., a sign hot and moist: II,,. - Anastrous signs. See anastrous. - Antecedent sign, the sign of something about to come to pa . See antecedent. Ascending, a ident, austral, autumnal, barren, bestial, bicorporal, cardinal signs. See the adjectives. - Cold sign, in astrol., a sign of the zodiac which receives an even number when all are numbered in their order: the cold signs are ४,,, m, 13, *. Also called feminine, unfortunate, or nocturnal sign.- Commemorative signs, in med., diagnostic indications of previous disease. - ConJunct sign, a sign which is contemporaneous with the state of things it signifies.- Consequent sign, a sign which sign if les a thing already come to pa . - Contingent sign, a sign which affords an uncertain indication of its object.- Des cartes's rule of signs. See rulel.-Descending sign, or sign of right or long ascension, one of the signs of the zodiac through which the sun pa es in moving south; a summer or autumn sign:,,,, vernicle. The proper sign of the pilgrimage to the Holy Land was the cro . Skeat, Note on Piers Plowman (C), viii. 165. 7. In general, anything which serves to manifest, stand for, or call up the idea of another thing to the mind of the person perceiving it; evidence of something past, present, or future; a symptom: as, to show signs of life; a sign of foul or fair weather; signs of war; signs of a contagious disease. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? Mat. xvi. 3. She will rather die than give any sign of affection. foundation of a house. Shak., Much Ado, ii. 3. 236. We came to a place where there are some signs of the Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 39. That he makes Love to you is a sign you are handsome; and that I am not jealous is a sign you are virtuous. Wycherley, Country Wife, iii. 1. Scarce has the gray dawn streaked the sky, and the earliest cock crowed from the cottages of the hillside, when the suburbs give sign of reviving animation. Irving , Alhambra, p. 137. I have known black men who could read sign and lift a trail with as much intuitive quickne as either red or white. Mayne Reid , Osceola, xxii. Uncovering of the head is a sign alike of worship, of loyalty, and of respect. H. Spencer , Prin. of Sociol., § 345. 8. In Biblical use: (a) That by which a person or thing is known, especially as divinely distinguished (Luke ii. 12; Rom. iv. 11; 2 Cor. xii. 12). Hence-( b ) Especially, an appearance or occurrence indicative of the divine presence or bodied signs. See double - bodied. --Dry sign, in astrol., one of the signs T, 8, 9, 1, 4, 13.- Earthy sign, in as trol., a sign cold and dry: 8, 1, 13. - Equinoctial sign, in astrol., a sign of the zodiac beginning at an equinox:,.-Fiery sign, in astrol., a sign hot and dry:,,. - Formal, fruitful, human sign. See the adjectives.Four-footed sign, in astrol., one of the signs 7, 8, 9,, 13.- Hot sign, in astrol., a sign of the zodiac which receives an odd number when all are numbered in their order: the hot signs are, II,,,,. Also called masculine, fortunate, or diurnal sign. - Instituted sign, in logic. See institute. - Intercepted, local sign. See its object by virtue of a real relation or physical connect he adjectives. Material sign, a sign which represents tion with it; an index: such are natural signs and weather-cocks, also the letters of a geometrical diagram, etc. - Moist sign, in astrol., one of the signs II,,,,,.-Mute sign. Same as watery sign (see below).Natural sign. See natural. - Nece ary sign. See nece ary.- Negative sign, the algebraical sign minus. - Northern signs, physical signs, radical sign. See the adjectives. - Pilgrim's sign. See pilgrim.-Rosen- pilgrim.- ) bach's sign, abolition of the abdominal reflex. - Rule of signs, rule of the double sign. See rule1.- Sign manual. (a) See manual, a. A declaration attested by his sign manual . Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. All [these lyrics] are stamped with her sign - manual. Stedman, Vict. Poets, p. 125. Sign of equality. See equality. - Sign of residua tion. See residua tion. - Sign of the cro . (a) A figure of the cro of Christ borne as a badge, as on a banner, or (as shoulders. See sign, v. t., 1. by the crusaders, pilgrims, etc.) on the breast, back, or, They arm them with the sign of the cro , and of the wounds. Latimer , Misc. Sel. sign (b) See sign of the cro , under cro 1 . - Spring, summer, winter signs. See the qualifying words. - Tropical sign, a sign of the zodiac beginning at a tropic:, 13.Watery sign, in astrol ., a sign cold and moist:,, x. =Syn. 7. Note, index, symbol, type, manifestation, signal. -7 and 8. Prognostic , Presage , etc. See omen . sign (sin), v. [ signer , F. dial. siner = Pr. si gnar, senhar , senar = OSp. señar , Sp. signar = It. segnare, sign are , mark, seal, indicate, signify, signum , a mark, sign: see sign , n. Cf. sain1 , derived through AS. from L. sign are , and thus a doublet of sign .] I. trans. 1. To mark with a sign, either fixed or (as by a significant motion) pa ing; place a sign or distinguishing mark upon; mark; specifically, to sign with the cro . Compare sain1 . [Archaic.] We receive this child into the congregation of Christ's flock, and do sign him with the sign of the cro , in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confe the faith of Christ crucified. Nothing and lead. Book of Common Prayer, Baptism of Infants. found here but stones, signed with bra e, iron, Holland, tr. of Camden, p. 808. ( Davies.) Here thy hunters stand, Sign'd in thy spoil. Shak ., J. C., iii. 1. 206. I perswade me that God was pleas'd with thir Restitution, signing it, as he did, with such a signal Victory. Milton , Ruptures of the Commonwealth. He ki ed the ground and signed himself with the cro . J. Gairdner, Richard III., vi. They... wore garments of black, signed with a white Sandys , Travailes, p. 179. cro e. 2. To affix a signature to, as a writing of any kind, a design or painting, or the like, for verification, attestation, or a ent; write one's name upon, or something intended to represent one's name, or (as by authorization or a umption) that of another person: as, to sign bills or receipts with the employer's name and the writer's initials; the plans were signed with a monogram. A legal or other paper, a picture, etc., is said to be signed if the person has written his own name or initials at any requisite point in its course, or in the margin; it is said to be subscribed only if he has written this at the end. This Hand of mine shall never be employ'd to sign any Thing against your Good and Happine . Steele, Conscious Lovers, v. 1. The deed is signed , and the land is mine. Whittier , Mogg Megone, i. 3. To write as a signature: as, to sign one's own or another's name to a letter. In 1837 there were forty per cent. of the men and sixty five per cent. of the women [in London) who could not sign their own names. W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 78. 4. To affect by a binding signature; dispose of by written a ignment or release: with away or off : as, to sign away one's rights; to sign off one's interest in a contract.-5. To procure the signature of, as to an agreement; engage by the signing of a contract; put under written obligation. (Recent.] The Athletics have signed a new player. New York Evening Post, June 28, 1889. 6. To communicate by a sign; make known by a significant motion; signal, as with the hand. Prince John with his truncheon signed to the trumpets to sound the onset. Scott , Ivanhoe, viii. She answer'd, "These be secret things," and sign'd To those two sons to pa and let them be. Tennyson, Coming of Arthur. 7t. To give or show signs of; display in appearance or manner; betoken or distinguish by any indication. You sign your place and calling, in full seeming, With meekne and humility. Shak., Hen. VIII., ii. 4. 108. 8t. To a ign, as to a place or duty; direct; appoint; settle; fix. In thilke place there ye me signe to be. Court of Love , 1. 642. II. in trans. 1. To write one's signature; bind one's self by a signature; make a signed agreement or statement: with an adverbial adjunct: as, to sign off from drinking (that is, to sign the temperance pledge). [According to Bartlett, to sign off formerly meant in Connecticut to free one's self from a parish tax by a written declaration of membership of a church other than that supported by the commonwealth.] One set of men signed on after having only seven hours' absence from work. St. James's Gazette , Sept. 23, 1885. ( Encyc . Dict.) 21. To serve as a sign; have significance; augur. It [mysterious music] signs well, does it not? Shak ., A. and C., iv. 3. 14. 3. To make a sign or signs; gesture or point significantly. [Rare.] "Behold." I signed above, where all the stars were out. Mrs. Browning , Aurora Leigh, viii. IMG:content-1044.png:[blocks in formation] etc., is made to expre various meanings. - On-shore signal, a signal formerly displayed at lake ports by the States Signal-service as a warning to small ve els when the wind was expected to blow in an on-shore di- rection with a velocity of from 20 to 35 miles per hour. - Signal Corps, a corps of the United States army charged with the general signal-service of the army, with the erec- equipment, and management of field-telegraphs used with military forces in the field, with constructing and operating military telegraph-lines, and all other duties usually pertaining to military signaling. By act of Octo- As signal now in low dejected state, As erst in highest, behold him where he lies. He rode him forth, and in his honde He bore the signal of his londe. Meantime, in signal of my love to thee, Will I upon thy party wear this rose. officer, one major, four captains (mounted), four first lieu- tenants (mounted), and fifty sergeants. - Signal quarter- master. See quartermaster.- Signal-service Bureau, from 1871 to July 1st, 1891, a bureau of the United States War Department, presided over by signal having charge of military signaling and military telegraph: lines, and of the collection and comparison of meteoro- logical observations, and the publication of predictions of the weather based upon them. By act of October 1st, 1890, a Weather Bureau was created in the Department of Agri- the meteorological duties devolving upon the Signal-service Bureau were transferred thereto. - Storm signal, a red flag with black center, hoisted by the United States Weather Bureau at sea-coast and lake stations, warning seamen to expect violent and dangerous gales. - To repeat signals ( naut .). See repeat . - Weather sig- nal, a signal designed to give information of the character of the approaching weather; especially, one announcing the forecasts made by a weather-service. signal (signal), v .; pret. and pp. signaled nalled , ppr. signaling or signalling. [OF. si- gnaler, segnaler, F. sign signaler Pr. sign alar = Sp. señalar = Pg. sinalar = It. segnalare ; from the noun.] I. trans. 1. To mark with a sign. Layard. ( Imp . Dict .) -2. To communicate or make known by a signal or by signals: as, to signal orders; a ve el signals its arrival.-3. To make signals to: as, the ve el signaled the forts. II. in trans. 1. To be a sign or omen. Imp . Dict .-2. To give a signal or signals; make communication by signals. London Philos . Mag . , 5th ser., XXV. 209. They are signaling night and day from one of the half ruined towers of the capitol, by flag and fire. J. K. Hosmer , Color-Guard, p. 76. Shak ., 1 Hen. VI., ii. 4. 121. signal-book (sig'nal-buk), n. A book contain- ing a system of signals, with explanations and directions for their use. A complete naval signal book comprehends therefore a system of evolutionary tactics. signal-box (sig'nal-boks), n . 1. A small house or tower in which railway-signals are worked. - 2. The alarm-box of a police or fire-alarm system, or the like, usually affording a connec- tion with a pneumatic or electric system. signal-chest (sig'nal-chest), n. IMG:content-1045.png:[blocks in formation] I signalized to the fleet. Also spelled signalise . signals abound particularly in military operations, naviga gation, railroading, and telegraphing (especially by means of semaphores); and the methods and devices employed are almost innumerable. See cut under semaphore . signal . signaler, signaller (signal-ér), n. One who or that which makes signals; a person or an instrument employed in signaling. Elect . Rev. (Eng.), XXVI. 83. IMG:content-1046.png:[blocks in formation] signal etic (sig-na-let'ik), a . [ signalétique , signaler , signal:: see signal , v.] Of or per- taining to the algebraic signs plus and minus. They are signal etic functions, indicating in what man- ner. the roots of the one equation are intercalated among those of the other. Cayley , in Nature, XXXIX. 218. Signal etic series succe ion of terms considered solely signal-fire (signal-fir), n . often built on high points for the gathering of members of a clan, tribe, or other organization for hostile or pred- atory operations. They were also lighted on sea-coasts for the guidance of ve els, and in semi-barbarous times or places often as a lure for their destruction for the sake of plunder. The earliest lighthouses were supplied with signal-fires instead of lamps. Such fires, or rather the dense columns of smoke made to arise from them, are still largely in use for signaling purposes among the North signal-flag (signal-flag), n . A flag used in or adapted for signaling; especially, one of set of flags of different colors, shapes, and markt ings, which, singly or in various combinations, have different significations, intelligible either in one language or service, or in all languages. signal-gun (signal-gun), n. A gun fired as a signal, or one especially used for firing signals. Well, one day bang went the signal gun for sailing, and D. Jerrold, Retiring from Busine , III. 2. Hark-peals the thunder of the signal - gun ! It told 'twas sunset. Byron, Corsair, i. 14. signalment (signal-ment), n . [ signale- ment ; as signal + -ment .] 1. Am making known by signs or indications; specifically, a descrip- tby signs or indication by external marks or characteristics for identification. [A Gallicism.] The foiled police "Could they find a girl and child? Renounced me. No other signalment but girl and child? No data shown but noticeable eyes, And hair in ma es, low upon the brow?" signal-order (signal-order), n. An order re- lating to the display of signals. signal-post (signal-post), n. A post or pole upon which movable arms, flags, lights, or the like are arranged, which may be displayed for the purpose of making signals. signal-rocket (sig'nal-rok"et), n. A rocket used as a signal. signal-service (signal-servis), n. 1. The busine of making or transmitting signals; the occupation of signaling, especially in the IMG:content-1047.png:[ocr errors] army: as, to be a igned to signal -service.-2. An organization for the busine of signaling. See Signal Corps, under signal.