以動作表明態度
同一個指向的動作，但這次是人刻意做出來給別人看的：用一個舉動代替一句話。
show a signal · verb · C1
to do something that acts as a sign so other people know your feeling or opinion.
示意；表明
核心畫面
Picture one thing standing in for another and pointing at it: a black armband pointing at grief, a nod pointing at agreement. That pointing is the word. Sometimes the pointer is a thing, sometimes a person doing it on purpose, and in one older use the question becomes whether a thing points at anything at all — that is, whether it matters.
可以想成：一樣東西代替另一樣東西，指向它——黑色臂章指向哀悼，點個頭指向同意。這個「指向」就是這個字。有時候指的是一…更多收起
可以想成：一樣東西代替另一樣東西，指向它——黑色臂章指向哀悼，點個頭指向同意。這個「指向」就是這個字。有時候指的是一個東西，有時候是一個人刻意做出來的動作；還有一種比較舊的用法，問的是這件事到底有沒有指向什麼——也就是「要不要緊」。From the picture
要不要緊
把「有沒有指向什麼」直接當成「重不重要」來問：如果什麼都沒指到，那就無關緊要。
matter; make a difference · verb · C1
To make any real difference to how things turn out.
要緊；有關係
Also in this word
be a sign of · verb · B2
To be a sign of something, or to stand for it.
表示；意味著
原始詞典資料5 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
signifyverb/ˈsɪɡnɪfaɪ/
- 1
To create a sign out of something.
- 2
To give (something) a meaning or an importance.
- 3
To show one’s intentions with a sign etc.; to indicate, announce, or portend.
- I’ll to the king; and signify to him / That thus I have resign’d my charge to you.
- For it seemeth to me unreasonable to send a prisoner, and not withal to signify the crimes laid against him.
- 4
To mean; to betoken.
- Life’s […] a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing.
- Mrs Varden was a lady of what is commonly called an uncertain temper—a phrase which being interpreted signifies a temper tolerably certain to make everybody more or less uncomfortable.
- 5
To make a difference; to matter (in negative or interrogative expressions).
- To be but in the company of those we love, satisfies us: it does not signify whether we speak to ’em or not, whether we think on them or on indifferent things. To be near ’em is all.
- VVell ſays I, and are you thus eaſy? ay, ſays ſhe, I can’t help myſelf, vvhat ſignifyes being ſad? If I am hang’d there’s an End of me, ſays ſhe, and avvay ſhe turns Dancing, and Sings as ſhe goes, […]
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。