presignification

English

Etymology

pre- +‎ signification

Noun

presignification (plural presignifications)

1. The act of signifying or showing beforehand.
   • a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number). The Being of God Proved from Supernatural Effects”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLC:

     To this kind we may refer the presignification and prediction of future events, especially those which are contingent, and depend upon man's free choice; to the doing of which nothing is more evident in itself, nor more acknowledged by all, than that a power or wisdom supernatural is required […]

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “presignification”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)