Noun | 1. | signal - any communication that encodes a message; "signals from the boat suddenly stopped" |
2. | signal - any incitement to action; "he awaited the signal to start"; "the victory was a signal for wild celebration" | |
3. | signal - an electric quantity (voltage or current or field strength) whose modulation represents coded information about the source from which it comes | |
Verb | 1. | signal - communicate silently and non-verbally by signals or signs; "He signed his disapproval with a dismissive hand gesture"; "The diner signaled the waiters to bring the menu" |
2. | signal - be a signal for or a symptom of; "These symptoms indicate a serious illness"; "Her behavior points to a severe neurosis"; "The economic indicators signal that the euro is undervalued" | |
Adj. | 1. | signal - notably out of the ordinary; "the year saw one signal triumph for the Labour party" |
1. | (language) | SIGNAL - A synchronous language by Le Guernic et al of
INRIA. ["SIGNAL - A Data Flow-Oriented Language for Signal Processing," P. le Guernic, IEEE Trans Acoustics Speech & Signal Proc, ASSP-34(2):362-1986-04-374]. | |
2. | (operating system) | signal - A predefined message sent between two Unix processes or from the kernel to a process. Signals communicate the occurrence of unexpected external events such as the forced termination of a process by the user. Each signal has a unique number associated with it and each process has a signal handler set for each signal. Signals can be sent using the kill system call. |