signalmentn.
/ˈsɪɡnlm(ə)nt/, U.S. /ˈsɪɡnəlmənt/ Now historical.
A description of a person wanted by the police; a hue and cry (hue and cry n. 1b). Also: a distinguishing mark.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > feature > [noun]
track1513
lineamenta1535
delineament1596
tract1606
miniature1630
remark1660
trait1773
signalment1779
feature1828
society > communication > indication > that which identifies or distinguishes > personal identification > [noun] > identification parade > description of person wanted by police
signalment1779
identikit1959
profile1964
1779 Ann. Reg. 1778 196 A French signalment, or hue and cry, was received at..Bow Street..of a most horrid murder.
1804 J. Bentham Let. 20 Apr. in Wks. (1843) X. 414/2 Were a signalment of this kind once established in the character of a mark of infamy is it not to be apprehended that the above-mentioned custom of self-marking would cease?
1856 E. B. Browning Aurora Leigh vi. 243 The foiled police Renounced me; ‘Could they find a girl and child, No other signalment but girl and child?’
1863 R. Simpson in D. Carroll George Eliot (1996) 237 An arbitrary signalment which distinguishes him by an outward badge, like a habit of sniffing.
1903 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 1 93/2 Any procedure which will make these measures more exact must be valuable, for already the number of signalments is several hundred thousand in France alone.
1937 O. Eisenschiml Why was Lincoln Murdered? xviii. 195 And so, equipped with a false signalment,..the police looked in vain for an Atzerodt who never appeared.
2003 F. S. Lane Naked Employee iii. 64 The signalment system was an inexact science. For example, ten policemen might measure the same person and come up with ten different sets of measurements.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1779