signature

plural signatures

1. A person's name, written by that person, used as identification or to signify approval of accompanying material, such as a legal contract.

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   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.

   1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: John Hancock, John Henry

2. An act of signing one's name; an act of producing a signature.

   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.

   1977, Illinois Information Service, Press Summary - Illinois Information Service, page 4287

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   [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 […]

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

3. medicineThe part of a doctor’s prescription containing directions for the patient.
4. entertainmentSigns on the stave indicating key and tempo, composed of the key signature and the time signature.
5. mediaA group of four (or a multiple of four) sheets printed such that, when folded, they become a section of a book.
6. computingA pattern used for matching the identity of a virus, the parameter types of a method, etc.
7. computingData attached to a message that guarantees that the message originated from its claimed source.
8. figurativelyA mark or sign of implication.

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

   1692, Richard Bentley, [A Confutation of Atheism] (please specify the sermon), London: [Thomas Parkhurst; Henry Mortlock], published 1692–1693

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

   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

   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.

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

9. A distinguishing feature or product.

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

   2000, Darwin Porter, Danforth Prince, Frommer's Rome 2001, page 97

10. mathematicsA tuple specifying the sign of coefficients in any diagonal form of a quadratic form.
11. obsoletemedicineA 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.
12. InternetText (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.

    forum signature generator

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

    Synonyms: sig, siggy

comparative more signature · superlative most signature

1. not comparableusuallyDistinctive, characteristic, indicative of identity.

   Rabbit in mustard sauce is my signature dish.

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

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

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

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

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

   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, Brett Dawson, Tales from the 2004-05 Fighting Illini

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

   2005 June 27, “Paul Winchell Dead At Age 82”, in CBS News, archived from the original on 23 Oct 2007

   Synonyms: iconic

present singular third person signatures · participle present signaturing · participle past signatured · past signatured

1. ambitransitiveTo sign with one's signature, to write one's signature on.

   Synonyms: sign