signal

«signal» in Mova's school dictionary: a sound, light, sign or movement that gives a message or… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a signal, signals); verb (signal, signals, signalled/signaled, signalling/signaling)

meaning for a pupil

1) A signal is a sound, light, sign or movement that gives a message or warning: a traffic signal, a hand signal. tree →

2) A signal is the radio waves that carry sound, pictures or data to phones, TVs and radios. tree →

3) To signal is to give a message by a movement, light or sound. tree →

sense in the lessons

In road safety, cyclists use hand signals to show turns, and drivers use indicators; railway and traffic signals tell when to stop or go. In science, signals travel from senses to the brain along nerves. In technology, «no signal» means the phone cannot connect. In emergencies, a whistle or torch can signal for help (three blasts or flashes).

examples

• The traffic signal turned red. tree →
• Signal with your arm before you turn on your bike. tree →
• My phone has no signal in the mountains. tree →
• The teacher raised her hand as a signal for quiet. tree →
• Three whistle blasts are a signal for help. tree →
• Nerves carry signals to the brain. tree →
• The referee signalled a free kick. tree →
• A smoke signal rose from the hill. tree →
• Conn gave the signal and his guests seated themselves. tree →

note

British: signalled, signalling; American: signaled, signaling. Countable. «Sign» and «signal» are related: a sign shows a message that stays; a signal is often a message given at a moment.

In the corpora

• Three lamps that are each on or off make 2 × 2 × 2 = 8 different signals; four lamps make 16.
• Breaching means leaping out of the water; scientists think whales do it to signal, show off or knock off skin pests.
• Sharks also sense tiny electric signals from other animals' muscles through little pores on their snouts.
• Tigers have bright white spots on the backs of their black ears, which may help cubs follow their mother and send signals.
• A slow blink from a cat is a friendly signal, and if you blink slowly back, many cats blink again.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «signal» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.