What is "signature"

Signature \Sig"na*ture\, v. t. To mark with, or as with, a signature or signatures.

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.)

   1. 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.

   2. 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).

1530s, a kind of document in Scottish law, from Middle French signature (16c.) or directly from Medieval Latin signatura "signature, a rescript," in classical Latin "the matrix of a seal," from signatus, past participle of signare "to mark with a stamp, sign" (see sign (v.)).\n

\nMeaning "one's own name written in one's own hand" is from 1570s, replacing sign-manual (early 15c.) in this sense. Musical sense of "signs placed it the beginning of a staff to indicate the key and rhythm" is from 1806. Meaning "a distinguishing mark of any kind" is from 1620s.

a. distinctive, characteristic indicative of identity n. 1 A #Noun’s name, written by that person, used to signify approval of accompanying material, such as a legal contract. 2 The act of signing one's name. 3 (lb en medicine) That part of a doctor’s prescription containing directions for the patient. 4 (lb en music) sign on the stave indicating key and tempo 5 (lb en printing) A group of four (or a multiple of four) pages printed such that, when folded, become a section of a book 6 (lb en computing) A pattern used for matching the identity of a virus, the parameter types of a method, etc. 7 (lb en cryptography) Data attached to a message that guarantees that the message originated from its claimed source. 8 (lb en figurative) A mark or sign of implication. 9 (lb en mathematics) A (l/en: tuple) specifying the number of coefficients of the same sign in any (l/en: diagonal form) of a (l/en: quadratic form) 10 (lb en medicine obsolete) A resemblance between the external character 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.

1. n. 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

A signature (; from , "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a signature is a signatory or signer. Similar to a handwritten signature, a signature work describes the work as readily identifying its creator. A signature may be confused with an autograph, which is chiefly an artistic signature. This can lead to confusion when people have both an autograph and signature and as such some people in the public eye keep their signatures private whilst fully publishing their autograph.

In the mathematical field of topology, the signature is an integer invariant which is defined for an oriented manifold M of dimension d=4k divisible by four ( doubly even-dimensional).

This invariant of a manifold has been studied in detail, starting with Rokhlin's theorem for 4-manifolds.

Signature is a music album by Irish musician Moya Brennan. This is her seventh solo album to be released. It was released on the 9 October 2006 in Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands. The worldwide release was scheduled for early 2007, but was temporarily delayed until 25 September 2007.

Signature is the twelfth album of R&B singer Patrice Rushen. This album notable for Rushen as it marks a return to her Jazz background. Songs like "L'Esprit De Joie," and "Sweetest Taboo" are among the most enjoyable in her recent return to her Jazz roots. For fans of her Jazz work, the album was praised by both her previous jazz fans and R&B fans.

A signature is a hand-written, possibly stylized, version of someone's name, which may be used to confirm the person's identity. The writer of a signature is a signatory or signer.

Signature or signatory may also refer to:

• distinctive, characteristic indicative of identity

In art:

• Signature artwork, works by popular and well-established artists that are easily recognized as theirs because of unique characteristics in style, medium, or subject matter; distinctive works that may be easily recognized without having to ascertain the makers, the school of art, or the period

In computing:

• Signature block, text automatically appended at the bottom of an e-mail message, Usenet article, or forum post
• Method signature, in computer programming, especially object-oriented programming, how a method is commonly identified
• Type signature, which defines the inputs and outputs for a function or method

In cryptography:

• Blind signature, digital signature in which the content of a message is disguised
• Digital signature (or public-key digital signature), a method for authenticating information
• Digital Signature Algorithm, a United States Federal Government standard
• Electronic signature, a signature imputed to a text via one or more of several electronic means, or cryptographic means to add non-repudiation and message integrity features to a document
• ElGamal signature scheme, based on the difficulty of computing discrete logarithms
• Key signature (cryptography), the result of applying a hash function on a key
• XML Signature, a W3C recommendation that defines an XML syntax

In mathematics:

• Signature (logic), in mathematical logic
• Signature (permutation), in mathematics
• Signature of a real symmetric bilinear form
  • Metric signature of the metric tensor on a pseudo-Riemannian manifold
  • Signature (topology) of a 4k-dimensional compact oriented manifold
• Signature of a knot, in knot theory
• Prime signature, the multiset of exponents in the prime factorisation of a number

In music:

• Key signature, a series of sharp or flat symbols placed on the staff, designating notes that are to be played one semitone higher or lower
• Signature (Moya Brennan album), a 2006 album by Irish musician Moya Brennan
• Signature (Joe album)
• Signature (Patrice Rushen album)
• Signature Records, a mid-20th century United States-based record label
• Signature song, the one song that a popular and well-established artist is identified with
• Time signature, a notational device used to specify how many beats are in each bar and which note value constitutes one beat

In science:

• Acoustic signature, a combination of acoustic emissions
• Doctrine of signatures, the notion that the appearance of plants is a function of their celestial influences
• Isotopic signature, a characteristic set of ratios of stable or unstable isotopes
• Metric signature, in physics, refers to the form of a metric tensor: the sign of the diagonal components constitutes its "signature"
  • Signature change, in relativity
• Radar cross-section
• Spectral signature, the specific combination of reflected and absorbed electromagnetic (EM) radiation at varying wavelengths which can uniquely identify an object

In other uses:

• Signatory Vintage Scotch Whisky Company, a Scottish company that owns the Edradour distillery
• Signature (whisky), a brand of Indian whisky
• Signature crime, a crime which exhibits characteristics unique to an offender's psychology.
• In bookbinding, a large sheet of paper printed with several pages, which, when folded, is intended to form four or more leaves in the finished book
• Signature mark, a mark at the bottom of signatures to assist the bookbinder
• Signature, a brand of the clothing company Levi Strauss & Co.
• Signature (charity)/ CACDP, Signature is a trading name of the Council for the Advancement of Communication for Deaf People in the UK.
• Signature Digital Menus, a company specializing in the provision of digital menu boards
• Signature (dance group), a British Bhangra act in the 2008 series of the popular British television show Britain's Got Talent
• Signature Books, a publisher of Mormon works
• Signature Place, a residential skyscraper located in St. Petersburg, Florida.
• Signatures Restaurant, a restaurant formerly owned by Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff
• Signature School, a charter school in Evansville, Indiana spanning grades 9–12
• Signature Theatres, a movie theatre chain in California, Hawaii, and Montana operated by Regal Entertainment Group
• Signature Team, a French motor racing team.
• Signature Flight Support, a British fixed-base operator
• Diabolical signature, in demonology, the signature of a devil, demon or similar spirit, whose purpose is usually to sign away one's soul
• Doctrine of signatures, in Christian European metaphysics

In logic, especially mathematical logic, a signature lists and describes the non-logical symbols of a formal language. In universal algebra, a signature lists the operations that characterize an algebraic structure. In model theory, signatures are used for both purposes.

Signatures play the same role in mathematics as type signatures in computer programming. They are rarely made explicit in more philosophical treatments of logic.

Signature are English dance duo Suleman Mirza and Madhu Singh. Their style of dance is British Bhangra and they frequently base their performances around Michael Jackson songs, such as " Billie Jean" and " Thriller". They gained wide recognition during their performances in the second series of Britain's Got Talent, in which they were runners-up to the winner street dancer George Sampson.

Signature is the second independent and eighth studio album by R&B singer Joe which was released on July 14, 2009. His previous album Joe Thomas, New Man features cuts from this album. The album features ballads written, produced, and arranged by Joe. The lead single is "Majic", which has peaked at #57 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album debuted #7 on the Billboard 200, #2 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and #1 on the Independent Albums chart. The deluxe edition of the album includes remixes to "We Need to Roll" and "Man in Your Life", the former featuring Mario & Trey Songz and the latter featuring The Game.

Signature is a trading name of CACDP which is a charity registered in England and Wales, and Scotland. Signature promotes excellence in communication with deaf and deafblind people so their vision of a society in which deaf people have full access can become a reality. Signature encourages greater understanding of deaf and deafblind people and the languages and communication methods they use.

Signature offers nationally recognised qualifications in subjects such as British Sign Language and speech to text reporting, which over 30,000 learners study at more than 700 locations across the UK and Ireland each year.

Signature also administers the National Registers for Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deafblind People (NRCPD). Today more than 600 communication professionals working with deaf and deafblind people choose the NRCPD as their professional registration body.

Signature, also known as McDowell's Signature, is a brand of Indian whisky, manufactured by United Spirits Ltd (USL), a Diageo Group company. It was launched in 1994. It is a blend of imported Scotch whisky and locally produced products., and is sold in octagonal bottles. It is available in two variants - Signature Rare Aged and Signature Premier Grain.