Careful Words

sign (n.)

sign (v.)

sign (adv.)

sign (adj.)

  The sign brings customers.

J De La Fontaine (1621-1695): The Fortune-Tellers. Fable 15.

He dies, and makes no sign.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry VI. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 3.

  That when a man fell into his anecdotage, it was a sign for him to retire.

Benjamin Disraeli (Earl Beaconsfield) (1805-1881): Lothair. Chap. xxviii.

With an angry wafture of your hand,

Gave sign for me to leave you.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Julius Caesar. Act ii. Sc. 1.

O hearts that break and give no sign

Save whitening lip and fading tresses!

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894): The Voiceless.

She what was honour knew,

And with obsequious majesty approv'd

My pleaded reason. To the nuptial bower

I led her blushing like the morn; all heaven

And happy constellations on that hour

Shed their selectest influence; the earth

Gave sign of gratulation, and each hill;

Joyous the birds; fresh gales and gentle airs

Whisper'd it to the woods, and from their wings

Flung rose, flung odours from the spicy shrub.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 508.

  An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.

Book Of Common Prayer: Catechism.

For all that faire is, is by nature good;

That is a signe to know the gentle blood.

Edmund Spenser (1553-1599): An Hymne in Honour of Beautie. Line 139.

Without a sign his sword the brave man draws,

And asks no omen but his country's cause.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Iliad of Homer. Book xii. Line 283.