signature

English

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signature

Wikipedia

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French signature, or from Medieval Latin signātūra, future active periphrastic of verb signāre (“to sign”) from signum (“sign”), + -tūra, feminine of -tūrus, future active periphrastic suffix. Displaced native Old English handseten (literally “hand setting”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪɡnət͡ʃə(ɹ)/, /ˈsɪɡnɪt͡ʃə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) enPR: sĭg′nəchər, sĭg′nĭchər, IPA^(key): /ˈsɪɡnət͡ʃɚ/, /ˈsɪɡnɪt͡ʃɚ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪɡnɪt͡ʃə(ɹ)/

Noun

signature (plural signatures)

2. A person's name, written by that person, used as identification or to signify approval of accompanying material, such as a legal contract.
   • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate , New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, , →OCLC:

     Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language […] his clerks […] understood him very well. If he had written a love letter, or a farce, or a ballade, or a story, no one, either clerks, or friends, or compositors, would have understood anything but a word here and a word there. For his signature, however, that was different.

3. An act of signing one's name; an act of producing a signature.
   • 1977, Illinois Information Service, Press Summary - Illinois Information Service, page 4287:

     IN COMMENTS during signature of the bill yesterday during “Agriculture Day” at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, Thompson agreed with farmers that land needs to be protected.

   • 2011, Winifred Holtby, The Crowded Street, Virago, →ISBN:

     [She ate with herself] during the whole evening, during supper, during her signature of unintelligible papers at her father's desk, when he told her gruffly that she would now have an income of £350 a year minus income tax, which would return to her in some mysterious way  […]

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:signature.
4. (medicine) The part of a doctor’s prescription containing directions for the patient.
5. (music) Signs on the stave indicating key and tempo, composed of the key signature and the time signature.
6. (printing) A group of four (or a multiple of four) sheets printed such that, when folded, they become a section of a book.
7. (computing) A pattern used for matching the identity of a virus, the parameter types of a method, etc.
8. (cryptography) Data attached to a message that guarantees that the message originated from its claimed source.
9. (figurative) A mark or sign of implication.
   • 1692, Richard Bentley, (please specify the sermon), London: , published 1692–1693:

     the natural and indelible signature of God, which human souls […] are supposed to be stamped with

   • 1975, United States. Office of Noise Abatement and Control, First Report on Status and Progress of Noise Research and Control Programs in the Federal Government, volume 1, pages 6–13:

     The TACOM Vehicle Signature Reduction program is concerned with reducing the noise signature detectability of military vehicles in combat.

   • 1997, Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, Totem Books, Icon Books, →ISBN, The Renaissance Episteme, page 67:

     A “signature” was placed on all things by God to indicate their affinities — but it was hidden, hence the search for arcane knowledge. Knowing was guessing and interpreting, not observing or demonstrating.

10. A dish that is characteristic of a particular chef.
    • 2000, Darwin Porter, Danforth Prince, Frommer's Rome 2001, page 97:

      A great beginning is the goose-liver terrine with truffles, one of the chef's signatures.

11. (mathematics) A tuple specifying the sign of coefficients in any diagonal form of a quadratic form.
12. (medicine, obsolete) A resemblance between the external character of a disease and those of some physical agent, for instance, that existing between the red skin of scarlet fever and a red cloth; supposed to indicate this agent in the treatment of the disease.
13. (Internet) Text (or images, etc.) appended to a user's emails, newsgroup posts, forum posts, etc. as a way of adding a personal touch or including contact details.

    Synonyms: sig, siggy

    Your signature must not exceed three lines of text, or 600 pixels in height.

    forum signature generator

Hyponyms

• biosignature

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• autograph

Adjective

signature (not generally comparable, comparative more signature, superlative most signature)

1. Distinctive, characteristic, indicative of identity.

   Synonym: iconic

   Rabbit in mustard sauce is my signature dish.

   The signature route of the airline is its daily flight between Buenos Aires and Madrid.

   • 2001, Lawrence J. Vale, Sam Bass Warner, Imaging the city: continuing struggles and new directions:

     Consider Las Fallas of Valencia, Spain, arguably the most signature of signature ephemera.

   • 2005, Paul Duchscherer, Linda Svendsen, Beyond the bungalow: grand homes in the arts & crafts tradition:

     Considered the most signature effect of the Tudor Revival style, half-timbering derived its distinctive […] .

   • 2005, Brett Dawson, Tales from the 2004-05 Fighting Illini:

     But it was perhaps the most signature shot Williams ever made in an Illinois uniform, a bullying basket in which he used his power to pound Stoudamire, […] .

   • 2005, CBS News website, Paul Winchell Dead At Age 82:

     He credited his wife, who is British, for giving him the inspiration for Tigger’s signature phrase: TTFN. TA-TA for now.

Translations

References

• “signature”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• antisurge, gauntries, sautering

French

Etymology

From signer +‎ -ture; cf. Medieval Latin signatura.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /si.ɲa.tyʁ/

• Audio (France)

  (file)

Noun

signature f (plural signatures)

1. signature (a person's name written in their own handwriting)

   désavouer sa signature

2. the act of signing

   Le décret est à la signature.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Related terms

• signer
• signataire

Further reading

• “signature”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Latin

Participle

signātūre

1. vocative masculine singular of signātūrus