signature

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
signature/ˈsɪɡnətʃə(r)/

▶noun

• 1 a person's name written in a distinctive way as a form of identification or authorization.

  ■ the action of signing a document.

• 2 a distinctive product, feature, etc. by which someone or something can be identified. [as modifier] the chef's signature dish.

• 3 Music short for key signature or time signature.

• 4 Printing a letter or figure printed at the foot of one or more pages of each sheet of a book as a guide in binding.

  ■ a printed sheet after being folded to form a group of pages.

• 5 N. Amer. the part of a medical prescription that gives instructions about the use of the medicine or drug prescribed.

– origin C16: from med. L. signatura ‘sign manual’, from L. signare ‘to sign, mark’.