signify

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   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.

2. 2
   verb

   To mean; to betoken.

   Life’s […] a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing.

3. 3
   verb

   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.

4. 4
   verb

   denote or connote

5. 5
   verb

   convey or express a meaning

6. 6
   verb

   make known with a word or signal

7. 7
   verb

   To create a sign out of something.

8. 8
   verb

   To give (something) a meaning or an importance.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English signifien, from Old French signifier, from Latin significare.