signalize

English

Alternative forms

• signalise (non-Oxford British English)

Etymology

From signal +‎ -ize.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪɡnəlaɪz/

Verb

signalize (third-person singular simple present signalizes, present participle signalizing, simple past and past participle signalized) (American spelling, Oxford British English)

1. (transitive, archaic) To distinguish, to make noteworthy. [from 17th c.]
   • 1757 (date written), [Edmund Burke], “Sect. XVII. Ambition.”, in A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, 2nd edition, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley, […], published 1759, →OCLC, part I, pages 82–83:

     […] God has planted in man a ſenſe of ambition, and a ſatisfaction ariſing from the contemplation of his excelling his fellows in ſomething deemed valuable amongſt them. It is this paſſion that drives men to all the ways we ſee in uſe of ſignalizing themſelves, and that tends to make whatever excites in a man the idea of this diſtinction ſo very pleaſant.

   • 1789, Edward Gibbon, Memoirs of My Life, Penguin, published 1990, page 121:

     [T]he reign of the Tudors was often signalized by the valour of our soldiers and sailors […] .

2. (transitive, archaic) To display or make known (an attribute, quality, etc.); to call attention to. [from 17th c.]
   • 1713, W[illiam] Derham, “[A Survey of the Terraqueous Globe.] Of the Houses, and Habitations of Animals.”, in Physico-Theology: Or, A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, from His Works of Creation. […], London: […] W[illiam] Innys, […], →OCLC, book IV (Of Animals in General), page 226:

     [T]he great Creator hath likevviſe ſignalized his Care and Skill, by giving Animals an architectonick Faculty, to build themſelves convenient places of Retirement, in vvhich to repoſe and ſecure themſelves, and to nurſe up their Young.

   • 1716 March 6 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 19. Friday, February 24. [1716.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, →OCLC, page 426:

     An Author who points his ſatyr at a great man, is to be looked upon in the ſame view with the engineer who ſignalized himſelf by this ungenerous practice.

   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “Peregrine Artfully Foments a Quarrel between Pallet and the Physician, who Fight a Duel on the Ramparts”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC, page 185, column 1:

     He likewiſe pretended to ridicule the uſe of fire-arms, which confounded all the diſtinctions of ſkill and addreſs, and deprived a combatant of the opportunity of ſignalizing his personal proweſs.

3. (transitive, archaic) To point out; to take special note of. [from 17th c.]
   • 1956, Winston Churchill, History of the English-Speaking Peoples, I.5:

     This expression rex Anglorum is rightly signalised by historians as a milestone in our history.

4. (transitive, chiefly nautical) To communicate with (someone) by means of a signal. [from 19th c.]

   a ship signalizes its consort

5. (transitive) To indicate; to be a sign of. [from 19th c.]
   • 1957, Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine:

     And yet... looking here at this bottle which by its number signalized the day when Colonel Freeleigh had stumbled and fallen six feet into the earth, Douglas could not find so much as a gram of dark sediment […]

6. (transitive, chiefly Canada, US) To furnish (a traffic intersection) with a traffic signal. [from 20th c.]

Derived terms

• signalization