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Meaning of sign on in English:

sign on

See synonyms for sign on

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phrasal verb

  • 1Commit oneself to a contract of employment, membership of a society, or some other undertaking.

    ‘I'll sign on with a nursing agency’
    • ‘I quickly realized that I made the biggest mistake of my life letting Tina sign on with a model agency.’
    • ‘In other words, like Jackson, Horry is smart enough to always sign on with the best team.’
    • ‘The deal also marks the first new U.S.-based sponsor to sign on with the league in more than a year.’
    • ‘Some companies will use other company's results in order to get you to sign on with them.’
    • ‘Around that time, an intriguing start-up invited me to sign on as employee number five.’
    • ‘The office allows people to sign on as members of the movement, make proposals, and seek help and answers.’
    • ‘The popularity of the club is growing with a number of new recruits signing on to learn the ropes.’
    • ‘A contract actor generally signs on for three years and is a major part of the core storylines.’
    • ‘Like Gutierrez, he had signed on with a US recruiting firm to guard US installations.’
    • ‘Thousands of people signed on as contract workers, largely due to increased earning power.’
    enlist, take a job, sign, join, join up, join the forces, join the services, enrol, register, volunteer, put one's name down, become a member
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    1. 1.1sign someone on, sign on someoneTake someone into one's employment.
      ‘the manager signed on new players’
      • ‘The hockey player has been signed on by the Government of Nunavut - all in aid of a worthy public cause.’
      • ‘His performances attracted the attention of City manager Tom Mitchell, who signed him on.’
      • ‘Meena recommended her to three top-notch producer-directors and Manisha was signed on by all three in one day!’
      • ‘The club have been impressed by Ciaran's net-minding skills and have signed him on for the top spot again in 2003.’
      • ‘He came down and had a training session and we signed him on.’
      • ‘If headhunters from the English county season have been watching the young Baroda lad, they must be queueing up to sign him on.’
      • ‘The claim to fame was not easy, admits Chowtha, who says it took more than six years for anyone in the industry to sign him on.’
      • ‘All it took was one producer to sign her on, give her a ‘look’ and give her a career.’
      • ‘Eventually moving to New York, she was signed on to the S-Curve label at only fourteen years old.’
      • ‘He expressed hope that Mbesuma would be signed on by another club in Europe because he was still marketable.’
      recruit, hire, engage, employ, take on, appoint, take into one's employ, take into employment, contract, put on the payroll, sign, enrol, enlist
      View synonyms

  • 2British Register to receive unemployment benefit.

    ‘I signed on after leaving college’
    • ‘At the time, I was eking out a precarious living: signing on as unemployed and writing the occasional dance review for The Scotsman.’
    • ‘This period was also financially trying - Jennifer even found herself signing on to receive unemployment benefit.’
    • ‘It is calculated that over 6,000 more people have signed on to the live unemployment register in the past year.’
    • ‘It was always a struggle, and sometimes I had to sign on for unemployment benefit.’
    • ‘The number of people signing on for unemployment benefits increased slightly in August, most due to short term claims.’
    • ‘Campaigners have claimed victory in their battle to stop Witham's unemployed having to travel to other towns to sign on.’
    • ‘The unemployment figures showed fewer Scots signing on, yet there seemed to be no signs of increasing prosperity in our most depressed estates.’
    • ‘There was good news for job hunters across the county with all Kerry centres registering a drop in the numbers signing on in April.’
    • ‘Figures on the live register in March this year said that 828 were signing on in the Portarlington area.’
    • ‘New jobless figures showing a rise in the number of people signing on are being viewed with alarm by politicians and employers alike.’