sign manual
Americannoun
plural
signs manualnoun
Etymology
Origin of sign manual
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And there, beyond, stood the wonderful thing, sign manual of modern comfort—a great red automobile with a gallant chauffeur!
From Project Gutenberg
King John, at Runnymede, affixing his sign manual to Magna Charta, with trembling hand, at the dictation of his haughty barons and their retainers.
From Project Gutenberg
It was a sign manual used in the secret society to which both of them belonged in the Academy at Centerville.
From Project Gutenberg
Whereupon Ruth, discerning the sign manual of a Melbourne photographer, could not help saying slyly, "Who is it, Tiny?"
From Project Gutenberg
It was, therefore, more in the construction and workmanship then, that the sign manual was perceptible.
From Project Gutenberg
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.