1. A means of communication, esp. between vessels at sea or between a vessel and the shore. • The international code of signals assigns arbitrary meanings to different arrangements of flags or light displays. [Cases: Collision 75–79, 81, 98, 100(2). C.J.S. Collision §§ 102–137, 143–147, 159, 210, 224.]
2. In the citation of legal authority, an abbreviation or notation supplied to indicate some basic fact about the authority. • For example, according to the Bluebook, the signal See means that the cited authority directly states or supports the proposition, while Cf. means that the cited authority supports a proposition analogous to (but in some way different from) the main proposition. For these and other signals, see The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation § 1.2, at 22–24 (17th ed. 2000). — Also termed (in sense 2) citation signal.
