Sign \Sign\, n. [F. signe, L. signum; cf. AS. segen, segn, a
sign, standard, banner, also fr. L. signum. Cf. Ensign,
Resign, Seal a stamp, Signal, Signet.]
That by which anything is made known or represented; that
which furnishes evidence; a mark; a token; an indication; a
proof. 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.
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Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of
the Spirit of God. --Rom. xv. 19.
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It shall come to pass, if they will not believe
thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first
sign, that they will believe the voice of the
latter sign. --Ex. iv. 8.
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(c) Something serving to indicate the existence, or preserve
the memory, of a thing; a token; a memorial; a monument.
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What time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty
men, and they became a sign. --Num. xxvi.
10.
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(d) Any symbol or emblem which prefigures, typifles, or
represents, an idea; a type; hence, sometimes, a picture.
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The holy symbols, or signs, are not barely
significative; but what they represent is as
certainly delivered to us as the symbols
themselves. --Brerewood.
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Saint George of Merry England, the sign of victory.
--Spenser.
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(e) A word or a character regarded as the outward
manifestation of thought; as, words are the sign of
ideas.
(f) A motion, an action, or a gesture by which a thought is
expressed, or a command or a wish made known.
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They made signs to his father, how he would have
him called. --Luke i. 62.
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(g) Hence, one of the gestures of pantomime, or of a language
of a signs such as those used by the North American
Indians, or those used by the deaf and dumb.
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Note: Educaters of the deaf distinguish between natural
signs, which serve for communicating ideas, and
methodical, or systematic, signs, adapted for the
dictation, or the rendering, of written language, word
by word; and thus the signs are to be distinguished
from the manual alphabet, by which words are spelled on
the fingers.
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(h) A military emblem carried on a banner or a standard.
--Milton.
(i) A lettered board, or other conspicuous notice, placed
upon or before a building, room, shop, or office to
advertise the business there transacted, or the name of
the person or firm carrying it on; a publicly displayed
token or notice.
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The shops were, therefore, distinguished by painted
signs, which gave a gay and grotesque aspect to the
streets. --Macaulay.
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(j) (Astron.) The twelfth part of the ecliptic or zodiac.
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Note: The signs are reckoned from the point of intersection
of the ecliptic and equator at the vernal equinox, and
are named, respectively, Aries ([Aries]), Taurus
([Taurus]), Gemini (II), Cancer ([Cancer]), Leo
([Leo]), Virgo ([Virgo]), Libra ([Libra]),
Scorpio ([Scorpio]), Sagittarius ([Sagittarius]),
{Capricornus ([Capricorn]), Aquarius ([Aquarius]),
Pisces ([Pisces]). These names were originally the
names of the constellations occupying severally the
divisions of the zodiac, by which they are still
retained; but, in consequence of the procession 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,
etc.
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(k) (Alg.) A character indicating the relation of quantities,
or an operation performed upon them; as, the sign +
(plus); the sign -- (minus); the sign of division /, and
the like.
(l) (Med.) An objective evidence of disease; that is, one
appreciable by some one other than the patient.
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Note: The terms symptom and and sign are often used
synonymously; but they may be discriminated. A sign
differs from a symptom in that the latter is perceived
only by the patient himself. The term sign is often
further restricted to the purely local evidences of
disease afforded by direct examination of the organs
involved, as distinguished from those evidence of
general disturbance afforded by observation of the
temperature, pulse, etc. In this sense it is often
called physical sign.
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(m) (Mus.) Any character, as a flat, sharp, dot, etc.
(n) (Theol.) That which, being external, stands for, or
signifies, something internal or spiritual; -- a term
used in the Church of England in speaking of an ordinance
considered with reference to that which it represents.
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An outward and visible sign of an inward and
spiritual grace. --Bk. of
Common Prayer.
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Note: See the Table of Arbitrary Signs, p. 1924.
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Sign manual.
(a) (Eng. Law) The royal signature superscribed at the top of
bills of grants and letter patent, which are then sealed
with the privy signet or great seal, as the case may be,
to complete their validity.
(b) The signature of one's name in one's own handwriting.
--Craig. Tomlins. Wharton.
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Syn: Token; mark; note; symptom; indication; signal; symbol;
type; omen; prognostic; presage; manifestation. See
Emblem.
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Cancer \Can"cer\, n. [L. cancer, cancri, crab, ulcer, a sign of
the zodiac; akin to Gr. karki`nos, Skr. karka[.t]a crab, and
prob. Skr. karkara hard, the crab being named from its hard
shell. Cf. Canner, Chancre.]
1. (Zool.) A genus of decapod Crustacea, including some of
the most common shore crabs of Europe and North America,
as the rock crab, Jonah crab, etc. See Crab.
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2. (Astron.)
(a) The fourth of the twelve signs of the zodiac. The
first point is the northern limit of the sun's course
in summer; hence, the sign of the summer solstice. See
Tropic.
(b) A northern constellation between Gemini and Leo.
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3. (Med.) Formerly, any malignant growth, esp. one attended
with great pain and ulceration, with cachexia and
progressive emaciation. It was so called, perhaps, from
the great veins which surround it, compared by the
ancients to the claws of a crab. The term is now
restricted to such a growth made up of aggregations of
epithelial cells, either without support or embedded in
the meshes of a trabecular framework.
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Note: Four kinds of cancers are recognized: (1) Epithelial
cancer, or Epithelioma, in which there is no
trabecular framework. See Epithelioma. (2) Scirrhous
cancer, or Hard cancer, in which the framework
predominates, and the tumor is of hard consistence and
slow growth. (3) Encephaloid cancer, Medullary
cancer, or Soft cancer, in which the cellular
element predominates, and the tumor is soft, grows
rapidy, and often ulcerates. (4) Colloid cancer, in
which the cancerous structure becomes gelatinous. The
last three varieties are also called carcinoma.
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Cancer cells, cells once believed to be peculiar to
cancers, but now know to be epithelial cells differing in
no respect from those found elsewhere in the body, and
distinguished only by peculiarity of location and
grouping.
Cancer root (Bot.), the name of several low plants, mostly
parasitic on roots, as the beech drops, the squawroot,
etc.
Tropic of Cancer. See Tropic.
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