Sīgn1, n.
(sīn), n. [Lat. signum, Fr. signe, Pr. signe, signa, segna, Sp. signo, seña, Pg. signo, senha, It. segno; A-S. segen, a sign, standard, banner, D. sein, a signal.] That by which any thing is made known or represented; that which furnishes evidence; a mark; a token; an indication; a proof; hence, specifically, (a.) A remarkable event, considered by the ancients as indicating the will of some deity; a prodigy; an omen. (b.) An event considered by the Jews as indicating the divine will, or as manifesting an interposition of the divine power for some special end; a miracle; a wonder. “Mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God.” Rom. xv. 19. “If they will not believe thee, nor hearken to the voice of the first sign, they will believe the voice of the latter sign.” Ex. iv. 8. (c.) Hence, something serving to indicate the existence, or preserve the memory, of a thing; a token; a memorial; a monument. “What time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men, and they became a sign.” Num. xxvi. 10. (d.) Any symbol or emblem which prefigures, typifies, or represents, an idea; hence, sometimes, a picture. “The holy symbols, or signs, are not barely significative, but what they represent is as certainly delivered to us as the symbols themselves.” Brerewood. (e.) A word regarded as the outward manifestation of thought; as, words are the signs of ideas. (f.) A motion, action, or gesture, by which a thought is expressed, or a command or wish made known. “They made signs to his father how he would have him called.” Luke i. 62. (g.) Hence, one of the natural or conventional gestures by which intelligence is communicated, or conversation carried on, as by the deaf and dumb.
☞ The signs, as used by deaf-mutes, are of two kinds, namely: 1. Natural signs, which are chiefly pantomimic, and represent things, not words. 2. Methodical or systematic signs, which are made out of the natural signs by reducing them, with some modifications and additions, to the order of the words of some spoken language, and marking grammatical distinctions. Both of these classes of signs are wholly distinct from the manual alphabet of deaf-mutes.
(h.) A conspicuous notice placed before a house to advertise the business there transacted; a publicly displayed token or notice; an advertisement. “The shops were therefore distinguished by painted signs, which gave a gay and grotesque aspect to the streets.” Macaulay. (i.) (Astron.) The twelfth part of the ecliptic or zodiac.
☞ The signs are reckoned from the point of intersection of the ecliptic and equator at the vernal equinox, and are named, respectively, Aries (♈), Taurus (♉), Gemini (♊), Cancer (♋), Leo (♌), Virgo (♍), Libra (♎), Scorpio (♏), Sagittarius (♐), Capricornus (♑), Aquarius (♒), Pisces (♓). These names were originally the names of the constellations occupying severally the divisions of the zodiac, by which they are now retained; but, in consequence of the precession of the equinoxes, the signs have, in process of time, become separated about 30 degrees from these constellations, and each of the latter now lies in the sign next in advance, or to the east of the one which bears its name, as the constellation Aries in the sign Taurus, &c. [See Illust. under Aries, Taurus, &c.]
(j.) (Alg.) A character indicating the relation of quantities, or an operation performed upon them; as the sign + (plus), prefixed to a quantity to indicate that the quantity is to be added; the sign − (minus), to denote that the quantity to which it is prefixed is to be subtracted; the sign ÷, to denote that the first of the two quantities between which it is placed is to be divided by the second; and the like. (k.) (Med.) Any present or past circumstance afforded by an examination of a patient, or of matters concerning him, whence conclusion may be drawn respecting the nature and seat of his disease. Dunglison. (l.) (Mus.) Any character, as a flat, sharp, dot, &c. (m.) (Theol.) That which, being external, stands for or signifies something internal or spiritual;—a term used in the English church in speaking of an ordinance considered with reference to that which it represents.
☞ See Table of ARBITRARY SIGNS, p. 1692.
Sign-manual (Eng. Law), the royal signature superscribed at the top of bills of grants and letters-patent, which are then sealed with the privy signet, or great seal, as the case may be, to complete their validity; the signature of one's name in his own handwriting. Craig. Tomlins. Wharton.
Synonyms—Token; mark; note; symptom; indication; symbol; type; omen; prognostic; presage; manifestation.