Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Signify

Signify , transitive verb

[French signifier, Latin significare; signum a sign + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See Sign, n., and -fy.]

1.
To show by a sign; to communicate by any conventional token, as words, gestures, signals, or the like; to announce; to make known; to declare; to express; as, a signified his desire to be present.
I 'll to the king; and signify to him That thus I have resign'd my charge to you. — Shakespeare
The government should signify to the Protestants of Ireland that want of silver is not to be remedied. — Swift
2.
To mean; to import; to denote; to betoken.
He bade her tell him what it signified. — Chaucer
A tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. — Shakespeare

Signify is often used impersonally; as, it signifies nothing, it does not signify, that is, it is of no importance.