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S I G 
SI'GNET, s. [signette, Fr.] A seal commonly used for 
the seal-manual of a king. 
I’ve been bold 
To them to use your signet and your name. Shakspeare. 
Here is the hand and seal of the duke: you know the 
character, I doubt not, and the signet. Shakspeare. 
SIGNETT, a hamlet of England, in Oxfordshire; 1 mile 
south-by-west of Burford. 
SIGNIFICANCE, or Signi'ficancy, s. Power of sig- 
nifying; meaning.—If he declares he intends it for the 
honour of another, he takes away by his words the signifi¬ 
cance of his action. Stillingfieet. —Force; energy; power 
of impressing the mind.—The clearness of conception and 
expression, the boldness maintained to majesty, the signifi- 
cancy and sound of words, not strained into bombast," must 
escape our transient view upon the theatre. Dry den. —Im¬ 
portance; moment; consequence.—How fatal would such a 
distinction have proved in former reigns, when many a cir¬ 
cumstance of less significance has been construed into an 
overt act of high treason ? Addison. 
SIGNIFICANT, adj. [significans, Lat.] Expressive 
of something beyond the external mark. Betokening; 
standing as a sign of something.—It was well said of Plo¬ 
tinus, that the stars were significant, but not efficient. 
Ralegh, —Expressive or representative in an eminent degree; 
forcible to impress the intended meaning.—Whereas it may 
be objected, that to add to religious duties, such riles and 
ceremonies as are significant, is to institute new sacraments. 
Hooker. —Important; momentous. A low word. 
SIGNIFICANT, s. That which expresses something 
beyond the external mark. 
Since you are tongue-tied, and so loth to speak, 
In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts. 
Shakspeare. 
A token; that which stands as a sign of something.—An 
erect and forward stature, a large breast, neat and pliant 
joints, and the like, may be good significants of health, of 
strength, or agility; but are very foreign arguments of wit. 
IVotton. 
SIGNIFICANTLY, ado. With force of expression.— 
Christianity is known in Scripture by no name -so signifi¬ 
cantly as by the simplicity of the Gospel. South. 
SIGNIFICATION, s. [significatio, Lat.] The act of 
making known by signs.—A lie is properly a species of 
injustice, and a violation of the right of that person to whom 
the false speech is directed; for all speaking, or signification 
of one’s mind, implies an act or address of one man to 
another. South. —Meaning expressed by a sign or word.— 
An adjective requireth another word to be joined with him, 
to show his signification. Accidence. 
SIGNIFICATIVE, adj. Betokening by an external 
sign.—The holy symbols or signs are not barely signifi¬ 
cative, but what by divine institution they represent and 
testify unto our souls, is truly and certainly delivered unto 
us. Brerewood. —Forcibly ; strongly expressive.—Neither 
in the degrees of kindred they were destitute of significative 
words; tor whom we call grandfather, they called ealdfader; 
whom we call great-grandfather, they called thirda-fader. 
Camden. 
SIGNIFIC ATIVELY, ado. So as to betoken by an 
external sign.—This sentence must either be taken tro¬ 
pically, that bread may be the body of Christ significa- 
tively, or else it is plainly absurd and impossible. Alp. 
Usher. 
SIGNIFICATOR, s. A significatory.—They are prin¬ 
cipal significators of manners. Burton. —See whether the 
significators in her horoscope agree with his. Burton. 
SIGNIFICATORY, s. That which signifies or betokens. 
—Here is a double significatory of the spirit, a word and a 
sign. Bp. Taylor. 
To SI'GNIFY, v. a. [signifier, Fr.; significo, Lat.] 
S I G 
To declare by some token or sign ; sometimes simply to de¬ 
clare. 
The maid from that ill omen turn’d her eyes. 
Nor knew what signify'd the boding sign, 
But found the pow’rs displeas’d. Dryden. 
To mean; to express. 
Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player, 
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage. 
And then is heard no more! It is a tale, 
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, 
Signifying nothing. Shakspeare. 
To import; to weigh. This is seldom used but interro¬ 
gatively, what signifies ? or with much, little ox nothing. 
—What signifies the people’s consent in making and re¬ 
pealing laws, if the person who administers hath no tie. 
Swift. —To make known; to declare. 
I’ll to the king, and signify to him, 
That thus I have resign’d to you my charge. Shakspeare. 
To SI'GNIFY, v. n. To express meaning with force.— 
If the words be but comely and signifying, and the sense 
gentle, there is juice; but where there wanteth, the language 
is thin. B. Jonson. 
SIGNINUM, among the Romans, a kind of pavement 
much esteemed: it was made of powdered shells mixed 
with lime. 
SI'GNIOR, s. [ signore , Ital.] A title of respect, among the 
Italians: with the Turks the grand signior is the emperor.— 
Who is he comes here ? This is signior Antonio. Shak¬ 
speare. 
To SI'GNORIZE, c. n. To exercise dominion over; to 
subject.—[If] love held me not so enthralled and subject to 
his laws as he doth, and to the eyes of the ungrateful 
fair whose name I secretly mutter, then should the eyes 
of this beautiful damsel presently signiorize my liberty. 
Shelton. 
To SI'GNIORIZE, v. n. To have dominion.—At the 
time that He was to come, Judah must lose the sceptre; not 
then to rule signorize in Judah. Hewyt. 
SI'GNIORY, s. [signoria, Ital.] Lordship; dominion. 
At that time 
Through all the signiories it was the first. 
And Prospero the prime duke. Shakspeare. 
It is used by Shakspeare for seniority. 
If ancient sorrow be most reverent, 
Give mine the benefit of signiory. 
And let my griefs frown on the upper hand. Shakspeare. 
SIGNORELLI (Luca), was born at Cortona in 1439, and 
was a disciple of Pietro della Francesca. He was among 
the first of the Italian artists who designed the naked figure 
with fidelity and accuracy; though still impeded by the 
shackles of stiffness and formality, and too much adherence 
to common nature. His greatest work is his celebrated 
fresco in the chapel of the Virgin in the cathedral at Orvieto, 
representing the final dissolution and judgment of the 
world; a work of extraordinary quality, in which variety 
and originality of ideas are rendered with force and effect. 
Vasari, who was related to Signorelli, says that Michael 
Angelo adopted, in his Last Judgment, many of the ideas 
of this artist; of which most probably he only took the 
characters of actions, and clothed them with his own 
emphatic style of design. 
Though grace of form, and harmony of colouring, are 
not the most prominent features in the style of Signorelli, yet 
one of his works is extolled by Lanzi as possessing these 
qualities in a superior degree; viz., his Communion of the 
Apostles, in the church del Gesa at Cortona. He was 
invited to Rome to assist in decorating the apartments of the 
Sistina, 
