signs

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of sign.

   Road signs along the highway were buried under fresh snow.

   Astrologers assign each month to one of the twelve signs of the zodiac.

   Note

   One spelling covers every countable meaning of the noun: road signs, signs of spring, the signs of an illness. In medicine the plural keeps a strict edge. Signs are what someone else can detect, while symptoms are what the patient reports. One meaning refuses the -s. In US, Canadian and Australian usage, the traces an animal leaves are uncountable, so a hunter finds deer sign, not deer signs.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of sign.

   He signs every contract before it goes to the client.

   The interpreter signs the lyrics as the choir performs.

   Note

   With or without an object, the form behaves the same way: she signs the lease, or simply she signs where the clerk points. A reflexive pattern names the signature itself. He signs himself "Captain Hale" means that is the name he writes at the bottom. The oldest meaning, sealing a document with a mark rather than a written name, is now archaic.

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