autograph

plural autographs

1. A person’s own handwriting, especially the signature of a famous or admired person.

   Some autograph-hunters were pestering the players after the game.

   Synonyms: penmanship, handwriting, chirography

2. broadlycolloquialA person's signature used as a mark of formal approval.

   If you could just put your autograph on the ol’ contract, please…

   2 more examples

   For me, identifying an autograph is one of the most exciting aspects of collecting. I enjoy the detective work that comes with discerning a fake from the real deal, and subsequently valuing the item against other examples.

   2021 July 1, Mike Hall, “HOW TO SPOT AUTOPEN AUTOGRAPHS”, in Just Collecting

   “Based on the scarcity of signed images from this period, in general, coupled with the miniscule population of original Jackson autographs we cannot overstate the rarity of this offering,” it said.

   2021 October 10, Susannah Cullinane, “‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson signed baseball photo sells for record price at auction”, in CNN

   Synonyms: signature, inscription

3. A manuscript in the author’s handwriting; a handwritten copy.

   An autograph of this text, made by E. Weidner, will be reproduced as plate XVII.

   1953, B. L. van der Waerden, “History of the Zodiac”, in Archiv für Orientforschung, volume 16, page 220

   Synonyms: protograph, holograph, archetype, original

1. not comparableWritten in the author’s own handwriting.
2. not comparableartMade by the artist himself or herself; authentic.

   Schiff […] believes most of the drawings are autograph.

   1979, Nancy L Pressly, The Fuseli Circle in Rome, Yale Center for British Art, p. 37

   1 more example

   Not surprisingly, he attributed to Kauffman two important works that are no longer accepted as autograph.

   1992, Malise Forbes Adam, Mary Mauchline, edited by Wendy Wassyng Roworth, Angelica Kauffman, Reaktion Books, published 1992, page 116

present singular third person autographs · participle present autographing · participle past autographed · past autographed

1. transitiveTo sign, or write one’s name or signature on a book, etc.

   Diego Maradona is helping in the fight against coronavirus in his home city by autographing a replica of the Argentina jersey he wore in the country’s 1986 World Cup final triumph to raise money for an underprivileged community.

   2020 May 9, Paul Gittings, “Diego Maradona autographs shirt to help poor district of Buenos Aires”, in CNN

2. transitiveTo write something in one's own handwriting.