5623 
for guidance or information, as on or before 
a place of business or of public resort, or along 
a road : as, a merchant's or shopman's sign ; a 
power, and authenticating a message or mes- 
senger (Acts ii. 22, vii. 36 ; 1 Cor. i. 22) ; a mirac- 
ulous manifestation or warning; a portent; an 
Swinging Sign, style of i8th century. 
tavern-su/ ; a swinging sign ; a tin sign ; a 
6 J ((/H-board . Places of business, and especially taverns, 
were formerly often known by the names of the figures 
or representations used by them for signs, as the Cock 
and Bull for a tavern, the Bible and Keys for a bookstore, 
etc. 
To be soldo at his shop in Corn-hill, at the signe of the 
Cat and I'arrats. E. Webbe, Travels (ed. Arber), p. 11. 
Underneath an alehouse' paltry sign, 
The Castle in St. Alban's, Somerset, 
Hath made the wizard famous in his death. 
Shale., 2 Hen. VI., v. 2. 67. 
His naturall memorie was very great, to w* he added 
the art of memorie. He would repeate to you forwards 
and backwards all the signes from Ludgate to Charing- 
crosse. Aubrey, Lives, Thomas Fuller. 
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, t'n sign of highest sovereignty. 
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 cross arms, the lover's sign, 
Vow. 
Middlelon and Rowley, Spanish Gypsy, Iv. 1. 
6. A representative or indicative thing ; a tan- 
gible, 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. xrri. 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. 
The ampullae were the special signs of the Canterbury 
pilgrimage ; the scallop-shell was the sign of the pil- 
grimage to Compostella; whilst the signs of the Roman 
pilgrimage were a badge with the effigies of St. Peter and 
St. Paul, the cross-keys, or "keyes of rome," . . . and the 
yernicle. . . . The proper sign of the pilgrimage to the 
Holy Land was the cross. 
Skeat, Note on Piers Plowman (C), viii. 165. 
7. In general, anything which serves to mani- 
fest, 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. 
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. 
Shak., Much Ado, ii. 3. 236. 
We came to a place where there are some sign* of the 
foundation of a house. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 39. 
That he makes Love to you is a tign you are handsome ; 
anu mat I am not jealous is a sign you are virtuous. 
Wycherley, Country Wife, ill. 1. 
Scarce has the gray dawn streaked the sky, and the ear- 
liest cock crowed from the cottages of the hillside, when 
the suburbs give sign of reviving animation. 
Irving, Alhambra, p. 137. 
1 have known black men who could read sign and lift 
a trail with as much intuitive quickness as either red or 
whlte - ilaijne Ileid, Osceola, xxii. 
Uncovering of the head is a sign alike of worship of loy- 
alty, and of respect. II. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., 345. 
8. In Biblical use: () That by which a person 
or thing is known, especially as divinely dis- 
tinguished (Luke ii. 12; Rom. iv. 11; 2 Cor. xii. 
12). Hence (b) Especially, an appearance or 
occurrence indicative of the divine presence or 
omen. 
Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. 
John iv. 48. 
Signs, both in heaven and earth, were manifested when- 
ever an emperor was about to die. 
Leckij, Europ. Morals, I. 274. 
9. A motion or gesture intended to express 
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 in- 
stinctive, artificial, or alphabetical signs of the 
deaf and dumb; pantomimic signs; to manifest 
assent by a siyn. 
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 S' John Gaudy, a 
very handsome person, but quite dumb, yet very intelli- 
gent by signes. Evelyn, Diary, Sept 7, 1677. 
As sign and glance eked out the unflnish'd tale. 
Scott, Vision of Don Roderick, The Vision, st. 7. 
No sign, 
By touch or mark, he gave me as he passed. 
Lowell, Parting of the Ways. 
10f. A spoken symbol; a signal-cry; a watch- 
word: 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 
group of stars, the name of which is represented 
by a symbolical figure or sign of ancient ori- 
gin. The zodiacal signs are -f Aries, the Ram; s Tau- 
sign 
(b) See sign of the cross, under crossi, Spring, summer. 
winter signs, see the qualifying words __ Tropical 
sign, a sign of the zodiac beginning at a tropic : c&, \3. 
watery sign, in astrul., a sign cold and moist: c, "T, K. 
= Syn. 7. Note, index, symbol, type, manifestation, signal. 
7 and 8. Prognostic, Presage, etc. See omen. 
Sign (sin), v. [< ME: *signcn, xrinen, < OF. si- 
-, scigner, F. signer, F. dial, sinrr = Pr. /- 
V3 Capricornus, the Goat ; x? Aquarius, the Water-bearer ; 
X Pisces, the Fishes. Owing to the precession of the equi- 
noxes, the signs have now moved quite away from the con- 
stellations from which they take their names. See zodiac. 
In Aries, the colerik hole signe. 
Chaucer, Squire's Tale, 1. 43. 
I was looking very attentively on that sign in the hea- 
vens which is called by the name of the Balance, when on 
a sudden there appeared in it an extraordinary light. 
Addison, Tatler, No. 100. 
Accessory signs. Same as assident signs. Airy sign, 
in astro!., a sign hot and moist: n, ===, of. Anastrous 
signs. See anastrous. Antecedent sign, the sign of 
something about to come to pass. See antecedent. As- 
cending, assldent, austral, autumnal, barren, bes- 
tial, bicorporal, cardinal signs. See the adjectives. 
Cold Sign, in astral., a sign of the zodiac which receives 
an even number when all are numbered in their order : the 
cold signs are s , c, TIR m a, x. Also called feminine, 
unfortunate, or nocturnal sign. Commemorative signs, 
in med., diagnostic indications of previous disease. Con- 
junct sign, a sign which is contemporaneous with the 
state of things it signifies. Consequent sign, a sign 
which signifies a thing already come to pass. Contin- 
gent sign, a sign which affords an uncertain indication of 
its object. Descartes's rule of signs. See rulei. De- 
scending sign, or sign of right or long ascension, one 
of the signs of the zodiac through which the sun passes in 
moving south; a summer or autumn sign: o, ij, njj, &, 
"I, >. Diacritical sign. See diacritical. Double- 
bodied signs. See double-bodied. Dry sign, in astral 
one of the signs <r, , a , 1% t , vs. Earthy sign, in as- 
trol, a sign cold and dry : K , njj, . Equinoctial sign, 
in astro!., a sign of the zodiac beginning at an equinox: r, 
=* Fiery sign, in astral., a sign hot and dry: r , si, t . 
Formal, fruitful, human sign. See the adjectives. 
Four-footed sign, in astral., one of the signs T, v, a., 
t , VS. Hot sign, in astral., a sign of the zodiac which re- 
ceives an odd number when all are numbered in their 
order: the hot signs are T, n, Si, ===,*,. Also called 
masculine, fortunate, or diurnal sign. Instituted sign, 
in logic. See institute. Intercepted, local sign. See 
the adjectives. Material sign, a sign which represents 
its object by virtue of a real relation or physical connec- 
tion with it; an index: such are natural signs and wea- 
ther-cocks, also the letters of a geometrical diagram, etc. 
Moist sign, in astral., one of the signs n, a, j, iu, 
, X. Mute sign. Same as watery sign (see below). 
Natural sign. See natural. Necessary sign. See 
necessary. Negative Sign, the algebraical sign minus. 
Northern signs, physical signs, radical sign. See 
the adjectives. Pilgrim's sign. See pilgrim. Rosen- 
bach's sign, abolition of the abdominal reflex. Kule of 
signs, rule of the double sign. See rwfe'. Sign man- 
ual, (a) See manual, a. 
A declaration attested by his sign manual. 
Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. 
(b) Figuratively, an individual stamp or quality distin- 
guishing anything done or produced by a person. [Often 
hyphened.] 
All [these lyrics] are stamped with her sign-manual. 
Stedman, Viet. Poets, p. 125. 
Sign of equality. See equality.-Sign of residuatlon. 
See restduation. Sign of the cross, (a) A figure of the 
cross of Christ borne as a badge, as on a banner, or (as 
by the crusaders, pilgrims, etc.) on the breast, back, or 
shoulders. See sign, c. t, 1. 
They arm them with the sign of the cross, and of the 
wounds. Latimer, Misc. Sel. 
gnar, seiiltar, senar = OSp. scnar, Sp. sir/nor = 
It. sef/nare, < L. sigimre, mark, seal, indicate, 
signify, < siyitum, a mark, sign : see nii), n. Cf . 
sain 1 , derived through AS. from L. sitjntirc, and 
thus a doublet of sign.'] I. trans. 1. To mark 
with a sign, either fixed or (as by a significant 
motion) passing; place a sign or distinguishing 
mark upon; mark; specifically, to sign with 
the cross. Compare sain 1 . [Archaic.] 
We receive this child into the congregation of Christ's 
flock, and do sign him with the sign of the cross, in token 
that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith 
of Christ crucified. 
Book of Common Prayer, Baptism of Infants. 
Nothing found here bat stones, signed with brasse, iron, 
and lead. Holland, tr. of Camden, p. 808. (Davies.) 
Here thy hunters stand, 
Sign'd in thy spoil. Shale., J. C., iii. 1. 20. 
I perswade me that God was pleas'd with thir Restitu- 
tion, signing it, as he did, with such a signal Victory. 
Milton, Ruptures of the Commonwealth. 
He kissed the ground and signed himself with the cross. 
J. Gairdner, Richard III., vl. 
They . . . wore garments of black, signed with a white 
crosse. Sandys, Travailes, p. 179. 
2. To affix a signature to, as a writing of any 
kind, a design or painting, or the like, for veri- 
fication , attestation, or assent ; write one's name 
upon, or something intended to represent one's 
name, or (as by authorization or assumption) 
that of another person : as, to sign bills or re- 
ceipts 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 
it 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 he employ'd to sign any 
Thing against your Good and Happiness. 
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. IT. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 78. 
4. To affect by a binding signature ; dispose of 
by written assignment 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, 18811. 
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 pass and let them be. 
Tennyson, Coming of Arthur. 
7t. To give or show signs of; display in appear- 
ance or manner; betoken or distinguish by any 
indication. 
You sign your place and calling, in full seeming, 
With meekness and humility. 
Shak., Hen. VIII., ii. 4. 108. 
8f. To assign, as to a place or duty; direct ; ap- 
point; settle; fix. 
In thilke place there ye me signe to be. 
Court of Love, 1. 642. 
II. intrans. 1. To write one's signature ; bind 
one's self by a signature ; make a signed agree- 
ment or statement: with an adverbial adjunct : 
as, to sign off from drinking (that is, to sign the 
temperance pledge) . [According to Bartlett, to sign 
of 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. DM,.) 
2f. To serve as a sign; have significance; 
augur. 
It [mysterious music] signs well, does it not? 
Shak., A. and C., iv. S. 14. 
3. To make a sign or signs; gesture or point 
significantly. [Rare.] 
"Behold." 
I signed above, where all the stars were out. 
Mrs. Brmming, Aurora Leigh, viii. 
