signboardn.
/ˈsʌɪnbɔːd/, U.S. /ˈsaɪnˌbɔrd/ A board displaying a name, image, or some other inscription, used to give information or directions, identify a business, etc. Also figurative.
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society > communication > indication > that which identifies or distinguishes > signboard > [noun]
signc1400
senye1569
signboard1632
show-board1740
shingle1847
fireboard1851
society > trade and finance > trading place > place where retail transactions made > [noun] > shop > shop-front > sign or signboard
signc1400
signboard1632
society > travel > aspects of travel > guidance in travel > [noun] > that which guides or leads > signpost or stone
Mercury's finger1589
signpost1597
mercurial statue1638
way-post1647
mercury1668
mercury's statue1684
mercurial stone1716
waywiser1725
guide-post1761
cross in the hands1762
fingerpost1762
guide stone1762
handpost1764
parson1785
fingerboard1793
direction-post1795
guide-board1810
signboard1829
handing-post1837
directing-post1876
1632 in E. B. Jupp Carpenters' Co. (1887) 297 All signe boards of Wainscott or carved.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 102/1 A Chandler..Dipping of a Staff or Rod of Candles in Tallow..I have seen often times Painted on Sign-boards, to signifie the dwelling-house of a Chandler.
1737 ‘Philoveritas’ Ess. on Relig. (ed. 2) 16 Fools think all the Stars should be in such an exact Figure, as the seven Stars are painted on a Sign Board.
1793–4 W. Wordsworth Guilt & Sorrow xvi No swinging sign-board creaked from cottage elm.
1817 S. T. Coleridge Biogr. Lit. (Bohn) 89 Our very sign-boards..give evidence that there has been a Titian in the world.
1829 A. Royall Pennsylvania II. 38 You scarcely go a mile in Pennsylvania but you see a Preacher—as signboards are called. They point out the road but never travel it.
1871 J. Yeats Techn. Hist. Commerce i. iii. 90 Some of the signboards of these ancient Roman inns have been disclosed amongst the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii.
1934 V. Woolf Oliver Goldsmith in Captain's Death Bed (1950) 15 Bodies and hearts are attached to these sign-board faces.
1978 J. McGahern Getting Through 11 Above father and son was a blue signboard with the word Restaurant.
2009 Right Vision News (Pakistan) (Nexis) 17 Dec. With speed on the highway, many may miss the signboards to these places.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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