Jane Hancock
- noun
- Informal
- After reviewing the contract, she quickly added her Jane Hancock at the bottom.
Examples
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Just give me your Jane Hancock right here, and we're good to go.
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Please put your Jane Hancock here.
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He had a unique way of signing his Jane Hancock on every document.
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She placed her Jane Hancock at the bottom of the page to make it official.
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I need your Jane Hancocks on this document.
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Please sign here with your Jane Hancock to finalize the agreement.
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The artist used a bold pen to write his Jane Hancock on the canvas.
Synonyms
A person's name written by hand to show who they are or that they agree
A person's signature written when asked to sign
A short informal signature used in emails or online posts
How Legible
- Informal
Surface Forms
Morphology
Jane + Hancock
The meaning 'a person's signature' cannot be derived from the literal constituents 'Jane' and 'Hancock' because these are personal names/surnames and do not encode the concept of signing; the phrase is a playful variation on the cultural reference 'John Hancock' (a famous signer). A B1 learner who only knows the constituent words but not the historical/cultural allusion would not predict the idiomatic meaning, so the expression is opaque.
Etymology
Jane Hancock is a playful name for a person's written 'signature'. It comes from the famous signer John Hancock, who made his signature very large on an important American paper, so people use Jane Hancock as a funny way to mean 'signature'.