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signaturemore about signature

signature

 

  4  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Signature  \Sig"na*ture\,  n.  [F.  (cf.  It  signatura,  segnatura 
  Sp  &  LL  signatura),  from  L.  signare  signatum  See  {Sign}, 
  v.  t.] 
  1.  A  sign,  stamp,  or  mark  impressed,  as  by  a  seal. 
 
  The  brain,  being  well  furnished  with  various  traces, 
  signatures,  and  images.  --I.  Watts. 
 
  The  natural  and  indelible  signature  of  God,  which 
  human  souls  .  .  .  are  supposed  to  be  stamped  with 
  --Bentley. 
 
  2.  Especially,  the  name  of  any  person,  written  with  his  own 
  hand,  employed  to  signify  that  the  writing  which  precedes 
  accords  with  his  wishes  or  intentions;  a  sign  manual;  an 
  autograph. 
 
  3.  (Physiol.)  An  outward  mark  by  which  internal 
  characteristics  were  supposed  to  be  indicated. 
 
  Some  plants  bear  a  very  evident  signature  of  their 
  nature  and  use  --Dr.  H.  More 
 
  4.  (Old  Med.)  A  resemblance  between  the  external  characters 
  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. 
 
  5.  (Mus.)  The  designation  of  the  key  (when  not  C  major,  or 
  its  relative,  A  minor)  by  means  of  one  or  more  sharps  or 
  flats  at  the  beginning  of  the  staff,  immediately  after  the 
  clef,  affecting  all  notes  of  the  same  letter  throughout 
  the  piece  or  movement.  Each  minor  key  has  the  same 
  signature  as  its  relative  major. 
 
  6.  (Print.) 
  a  A  letter  or  figure  placed  at  the  bottom  of  the  first 
  page  of  each  sheet  of  a  book  or  pamphlet,  as  a 
  direction  to  the  binder  in  arranging  and  folding  the 
  sheets. 
  b  The  printed  sheet  so  marked,  or  the  form  from  which  it 
  is  printed;  as  to  reprint  one  or  more  signatures. 
 
  Note:  Star  signatures  (as  A*,  1*)  are  the  same  characters, 
  with  the  addition  of  asterisks,  used  on  the  first  pages 
  of  offcuts,  as  in  12mo  sheets. 
 
  7.  (Pharm.)  That  part  of  a  prescription  which  contains  the 
  directions  to  the  patient.  It  is  usually  prefaced  by  S  or 
  Sig.  (an  abbreviation  for  the  Latin  signa,  imperative  of 
  signare  to  sign  or  mark). 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Signature  \Sig"na*ture\,  v.  t. 
  To  mark  with  or  as  with  a  signature  or  signatures. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  signature 
  n  1:  your  name  written  in  your  own  handwriting 
  2:  a  distinguishing  style;  "this  room  needs  a  woman's  touch" 
  [syn:  {touch}] 
  3:  a  melody  used  to  identify  a  performer  or  a  dance  band  or 
  radio/tv  program  [syn:  {signature  tune},  {theme  song}] 
  4:  the  sharps  or  flats  that  follow  the  clef  and  indicate  the 
  key  [syn:  {key  signature}] 
  5:  a  sheet  with  several  pages  printed  on  it  it  folds  to  page 
  size  and  is  bound  with  other  signatures  to  form  a  book 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  signature 
 
  1.  A  set  of  function  symbols  with  {arities}. 
 
  2.    (Or  sig)  A  few  lines  of  information  about  the 
  sender  of  an  {electronic  mail}  message  or  {news}  {posting}. 
  Most  {Unix}  mail  and  news  software  will  {automagically}  append 
  a  signature  from  a  file  called  .signature  in  the  user's  {home 
  directory}  to  outgoing  mail  and  news 
 
  A  signature  should  give  your  real  name  and  your  {e-mail 
  address}  since,  though  these  appear  in  the  {headers}  of  your 
  messages,  they  may  be  {munged}  by  intervening  software.  It  is 
  currently  (1994)  hip  to  include  the  {URL}  of  your  {home  page} 
  on  the  {World-Wide  Web}  in  your  sig. 
 
  The  composition  of  one's  sig  can  be  quite  an  art  form 
  including  an  {ASCII}  logo  or  one's  choice  of  witty  sayings 
  (see  {sig  quote},  {fool  file}).  However,  large  sigs  are  a 
  waste  of  {bandwidth},  and  it  has  been  observed  that  the  size 
  of  one's  sig  block  is  usually  inversely  proportional  to  one's 
  prestige  on  the  net. 
 
  See  also  {doubled  sig},  {sig  virus}. 
 
  2.    A  concept  very  similar  to  {abstract  base 
  classes}  except  that  they  have  their  own  {hierarchy}  and  can 
  be  applied  to  compiled  {classes}.  Signatures  provide  a  means 
  of  separating  {subtyping}  and  {inheritance}.  They  are 
  implemented  in  {C++}  as  patches  to  {GCC}  2.5.2  by  Gerald 
  Baumgartner  . 
 
  {(ftp://ftp.cs.purdue.edu/pub/gb/)} 
 
  (2001-01-05)




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