Literary notes about signify (AI summary)
Across literary works, the word "signify" operates as a bridge between the literal and symbolic, conveying both concrete identification and abstract meaning. In some texts it denotes a specific reference or designation, such as a musical instrument in ancient script [1], or a place whose name matters little beyond its function [2]. At times it directs readers to look beyond surface meanings—as when inscriptions or gestures evoke deeper intentions or emotions [3][4][5]. It also serves to mark the distinction between intellectual or moral elements, signaling qualities from virtues to metaphoric omens [6][7]. Whether used to underscore a literal marking or to hint at broader philosophical ideas, the term enriches the narrative by inviting an interpretation that transcends the immediate text [8][9].
- In the Hebrew, it is Sigionoth: which some take to signify a musical instrument, or tune; with which this sublime prayer and canticle was to be sung.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - Well, after all, it don't much signify whether it was called Triebetrill or Burmsquick; there is no doubt that it was some place or other.
— from The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — Volume 01 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - I now entreat your permission to lay a stone upon her; and have sent the inscription, that, if you find it proper, you may signify your allowance.
— from Boswell's Life of Johnson by James Boswell - These sunset clouds, these delicately emerging stars, with their private and ineffable glances, signify it and proffer it.
— from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson - What does that signify?' 'That the river is four feet higher than it was last trip.
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain - [Greek: phronæsis] is here used in a partial sense to signify the Intellectual, as distinct from the Moral, element of Practical Wisdom.
— from The Ethics of Aristotle by Aristotle - Here the sunlight may signify the Divine help granted to all men in their efforts after virtue.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri - It might be said that the final tsade and he deficientes may signify mysteries.
— from Pascal's Pensées by Blaise Pascal - What does that grave smile signify?” “Wonder and self-congratulation, sir.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë
