Definition of: sign

(sīn) noun
1. A motion or action indicating thought, desire, or command; a pantomimic gesture.
2. A board, plate, or representation of any sort, generally bearing an inscription and used to indicate a place of business or resort.
3. An arbitrary mark used to express meaning, rank, condition, value, etc.
4. Any evidence of a recent presence, as tracks, droppings, etc.; a vestige; trace.
5. A mark used in place of a signature by persons unable to write.
6. Music Any mark used in musical notation, as a flat or sharp.
7. Math. A conventional mark to indicate an operation or relation, as one of the symbols +, -, ×, ÷, indicating the four fundamental operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
8. Any indicative or significant object or event; a symbol; token.
9. In the Bible, a miraculous deed as a proof of divine commission or supernatural power; a miracle.
10. Astron. One of the twelve equal divisions of the zodiac, named from the constellations that formerly occupied them. See ZODIAC.
11. In hunting, a trace left by an animal; spoor.
12. Med. A symptom of disease that is apparent to someone other than the patient.
13. Eccl. The sign of the Cross: used in service books and before signatures of bishops.
—v.t.
1. To write one's signature or initials on.
2. Law To acknowledge an instrument by affixing a mark or seal to.
3. To indicate or represent by a sign; stand for.
4. To mark or consecrate with a sign, especially with a cross.
5. To engage by obtaining the signature of to a contract: to sign a baseball player; also, to hire (oneself) out for work: often with on.
6. To dispose of by signature: with off or away.
7. To express or indicate with a sign.
—v.i.
8. To make signs or signals.
9. To write one's signature or initials.
—to sign off Telecom. To announce the close of a program from a broadcasting station and stop transmission.
—to sign up To enlist, as in a branch of military service. ♦ Homophone: sine. [<OF signe <L signum]
—sign′er noun Synonyms (noun): emblem, indication, manifestation, mark, note, omen, pattern, presage, prognostic, signal, symbol, symptom, token, type. A sign is any distinctive mark by which a thing may be recognized or its presence known, and may be intentional or accidental, natural or artificial, suggestive, descriptive or wholly arbitrary. While a sign may be involuntary, and even unconscious, a signal is always voluntary; a ship may show signs of distress to the casual observer, but signals of distress are a distinct appeal for aid. A symptom is a vital phenomenon resulting from a diseased condition; in medical language a sign is an indication of any physical condition, whether morbid or healthy; thus, a hot skin and rapid pulse are symptoms of pneumonia; dulness of some portion of the lungs under percussion is one of the physical signs. See CHARACTERISTIC, EMBLEM, LETTER, MARK¹, TRACE¹.