sign-inadj.n.
/ˈsʌɪnɪn/, U.S. /ˈsaɪnˌɪn/ A. adj. (attributive).
1. Designating something on or at which a person's arrival is recorded, or a person records the admittance of a thing.
ΚΠ
1909 Jrnl. Western Soc. Engineers 14 651 The carhouse foreman fills out one of these blanks for each car reported on Sign-In-Sheet as ‘Held In’.
1951 Life 30 July 85/2 (caption) At sign-in ‘desk’ [the] cowboy registers.
1972 ‘J. Lange’ Binary 8 A guard with a sign-in book stood in front of the elevator. Graves..took the pen and wrote his name, his authorization, and the time.
1978 S. Brill Teamsters iii. 115 Their names were the first entered every morning in the sign-in register at the Fund's reception desk.
2006 R. Chandrasekaran Imperial Life in Emerald City (2007) xii. 259 They..established a sign-in table, where those without plastic CPA badges had to hand over a piece of identification in exchange for a visitor's pass.
2. Computing. Designating or relating to the means by which a user of a computer system, website, etc., signs in. Cf. to sign in 3 at sign v.1 Phrasal verbs 2.
ΚΠ
1973 H. E. Petersen & R. Turn in L. J. Hoffman Security & Privacy in Computer Syst. 85 The protection provided by use of once-only passwords during sign-in procedures only is not adequate against more sophisticated 'between lines' entry by an infiltrator who has attached a terminal to the legitimate user's line.
1982 Amer. Libr. 13 304/2 The key to computerized literature retrieval..is to make computer interaction self-explanatory. PaperChase requires no sign-in procedure.
2001 Philadelpia Inquirer (Nexis) 9 Sept. a15 The software pops up on the screen only when the computer encounters a form or a sign-in prompt.
2009 W. Leonhard Windows 7 All-in One for Dummies 574 It may take a minute of two, but ultimately you see the Windows Live Messenger sign-in window.
B. n.
1.
a. The time or period when a person is asked or required to record his or her arrival by signing in. Cf. to sign in 1 at sign v.1 Phrasal verbs 2.
ΚΠ
1960 Amer. Motorcycling July 11/2 Only 117 riders made noon sign-in at Wellston.
1987 San Diego Union-Tribune (Nexis) 5 Sept. b6 There will be a 5:30 p.m. picnic in connection with the sign-in.
1992 N.Y. Mag. 1 June 90/1 (advt.) AIDS walk New York..sign-in is 9 a.m.
2002 A. Fuller Don't let's go to Dogs Tonight 13 I have to be at school by five thirty that evening to make it in time for sign-in and supper.
b. A register on which a person's arrival is recorded.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > record > written record > register or record book > [noun] > other types of registers
Domesday Book1178
register1426
white bookc1432
town booka1547
christening book1558
muster1565
minute-book1566
Domes-booke1610
Newgate Calendar1686
time book1786
press book1808
provision book1840
visitors' book1846
guestbook1849
poison book1870
poison register1894
war diary1917
sign-in1966
1966 Amer. School Board Jrnl. Oct. 39/1 The daily sign-in then is transferred to a weekly independent study attendance chart.
1968 ‘G. Bagby’ Another Day vii. 142 He showed me the porter's sign-in. The man had come in quite early.
2007 L. Andrews Silent Assassin xxvi. 121 The handwriting on the sign-in is a mess... The guy signed a fake name.
2. Computing. An act of gaining access to a computer system, etc., by signing in; the password or other details used for this; a facility by which sign-in access is provided. Cf. to sign in 3 at sign v.1 Phrasal verbs 2, log-in n. single sign-in n. = single sign-on n. at sign-on n. 3.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > network > [noun] > connect
log-in1965
log-on1977
sign-in1989
1989 M. Hazen & A. Parker in W. H. Graves Computing across Curriculum vii. 378 Usage has grown tremendously—from seven thousand individual sign-ins in the fall of 1985 to sixty-eight thousand sign-ins in the fall of 1988.
1996 Tulsa (Oklahoma) World (Nexis) 20 Mar. a4 Isaacson also warned computer users to avoid real names or words as sign-ins.
2002 IT-Security in Global Corporate Networks 2002 (Center for Digital Technol. & Managem.) vi. 87 Issues such as privacy violation do not arise in corporate networks as long as the single sign-in is only used to control access to business applications and services.
2011 Marketing Week (Nexis) 27 Jan. 5 Asos is to introduce social sign-ins to its website so customers can use their Facebook or Twitter details to log on and share purchases with friends.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1909