Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A flourish made after or below a signature, originally to prevent forgery.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In diplomatics, the figure formed by a flourish of a pen at the conclusion of a signature, formerly used as a precaution against forgers; the flourish.
- To append a paraph to: hence, to sign, especially with the signer's initials. Also paragraph.
Wiktionary
- n. A flourish made after or below one's signature, originally to prevent forgery.
- v. transitive To add a paraph to; to sign, especially with one's initials.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A flourish made with the pen at the end of a signature. In the Middle Ages, this formed a sort of rude safeguard against forgery.
- v. To add a paraph to; to sign, esp. with the initials.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a flourish added after or under your signature (originally to protect against forgery)
Etymologies
- French paraphe, from Old French paraffe, abbreviated signature, from Medieval Latin paraphus, paragraph sign, short for paragraphus; see paragraph. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In my last paraph I did not intend to imply that I am or could ever be a father, I meant only to suggest that I can understand how a muy macho studmuffin might be justly proud of his way with the Laydeeze.”
“Yes, he bears the royal arms on his shield, but yet, if we remember rightly, the crown and paraph of our ancestor Edward the Third are wanting.”
“He has now added this crown and this paraph to his coat-of-arms," said”
“The youthful paraph under the signature, the symmetry, the feminine curves of the handwriting are some of the elements to look for.”
“If your Xbox 360 avatar appears unfulfilled despite a virtual closet packed with game-related paraph ...”
“*rummages around closet looking for Viking paraph…paraf…stuff*”
I has a flava flav - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
“Priam's lamentation, — — lamentations of Hecuba, &c.' ■ paraph rafe on Horace,”
“Répentigny, "with the capital" C, "or" Répentigny "alone, in a bold hand, with a paraph.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘paraph’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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phrontistery - p
from phrontistery.info
pabouche, pabulous, pabulum, pacable, pace, pachydermia, pachyglossal, pachymeter, pachynsis, paciferous, pacificate, pactolian and 1766 more...
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Distinguishing Marks
assay-mark, stamp, seal, cedula, cartouse, cachet, brand, mark, hallmark, armorial device, coat of arms, emblem and 150 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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forms/acts: art
threnody, eisegesis, imbricate, screed, lapis, requiem, colophon, homunculus, deus ex machina, apophthegm, anastrophe, anaphora and 45 more...
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I didn't know there was a word for that!
interdigitate, aspheric, benthos, reptation, pastiche, pandiculate, agelast, obdormition, dysania, armscye, phosphene, etiolation and 62 more...
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Grammar, language, linguistics, rhetoric
backronym, Logogriph, logodaedaly, Acrostic, tmesis, pleonasm, sesquipedality, periphrasis, peroration, solecism, longueur, periphrastic and 15 more...
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Marks
names of punctuation marks, accent marks, and other graphic signs and graphical characters used in printed, written, or digital text.
comma, period, parenthesis, apostrophe, colon, semicolon, slash, stroke, brackets, dash, em dash, en dash and 71 more...
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afters
aftermath, after-tax, aftertaste, afterworld, afterword, after hours, after glow, after-hours, after-shave, after the fact, after-wit, afternoon and 44 more...
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O So Zhinsky!
zarf, liripipe, theandric, tazza, bobeche, autotelic, gonfalon, refulgent, crepuscular, caduceus, knop, labarum and 46 more...
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Scribblative ✍
Scrawlings, notes, odd writings, and messages.
doodle, notation, scrawl, tracing, scribble, latrinalia, sketch, squiggle, notelet, post-it, chicken scratch, caligraphy and 88 more...
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ancient signs
ouroboros, calypso, la sirene, Medusa, chthonic, aureole, colophon, succubus, peri, homunculus, zephyr, numinous and 56 more...
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graphism
of or related to drawing—forms, tools, techniques, processes, practices, etc.
limn, vectorial, limned, synecdoche, adumbrate, lapis, colophon, grapheme, isogloss, sciagraphy, palimpsest, homunculus and 18 more...
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wickedwitch's list
lll
alit, plinth, eclat, diaphanous, portico, nival, daedal, apse, fossa, pellet, avail, midge and 143 more...
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good ones
grumble, fumble, bumble, stumble, crumble, mumble, jumble, humble, bramble, scramble, amble, ramble and 191 more...
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It Has a Name??
Yes. Yes it does.
aglet, armsaye, scroop, rowel, ferrule, rasceta, chanking, philtrum, frenulum, keeper, agelast, punt and 285 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for paraph.
reesetee a flourish made after a signature Feb 26, 2007
fbharjo paraph a paraph is worth a graph Jan 12, 2007