signify

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To create a sign out of something.

2. 2

   To give (something) a meaning or an importance.

3. 3

   To show one’s intentions with a sign etc.

   To show one’s intentions with a sign etc.; to indicate, announce, or portend.

   • I’ll to the king; and signify to him / That thus I have resign’d my charge to you.
   • For it seemeth to me unreasonable to send a prisoner, and not withal to signify the crimes laid against him.
4. ›+ 2 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To mean

      To mean; to betoken.

      • Life’s […] a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing.
      • Mrs Varden was a lady of what is commonly called an uncertain temper—a phrase which being interpreted signifies a temper tolerably certain to make everybody more or less uncomfortable.
      • Leaning over, she gives Uncle Oscar a furious affectionate pat which signifies that he is a good fellow and we all love him. It also signifies that he can shut up.
   2. 5

      To make a difference

      To make a difference; to matter (in negative or interrogative expressions).

      • To be but in the company of those we love, satisfies us: it does not signify whether we speak to ’em or not, whether we think on them or on indifferent things. To be near ’em is all.
      • VVell ſays I, and are you thus eaſy? ay, ſays ſhe, I can’t help myſelf, vvhat ſignifyes being ſad? If I am hang’d there’s an End of me, ſays ſhe, and avvay ſhe turns Dancing, and Sings as ſhe goes, […]
      • I told her it was not I that broke her window, but it did not signify; so she dragged me to the light, lugging and scratching me all the while, and then said she would inform against me […]

The neighborhood

• synonymmean
• synonymbetoken
• synonymimport