Word.ws English Dictionary

John Hancock

Syllables: John Han·cockUK/dʒɒn ˈhænkɒk//dʒɑn ˈhænkɑk/

John Hancock noun: a person's signature.

john hancock: a person's signature
Image: John Singleton Copley, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

John Hancock (plural John Hancocks)

  1. (US, idiomatic) A person's signature.
    • Please put your John Hancock on the dotted line to close the deal.
    • The man is pressed for his "John Hancock" with all the persuasiveness and eloquence of a practiced operator on masculine vanity.1879, Bates Harrington, How 'tis Done: A Thorough Ventilation of the Numerous Schemes Conducted by Wandering Canvassers, together with the Various Advertising Dodges for the Swindling of the Public...

Verb

John Hancock (third-person singular simple present John Hancocks, present participle John Hancocking, simple past and past participle John Hancocked)

  1. (US, transitive) To sign; to write one's signature on (something).
    • Billy Rose inked his contract with AGVA this week and the document only needs the signature of Matt Shelvey, head of the union, to put it into effect. Altho the deal was made in mid-summer, John Hancocking by both sides is coming about only now.1944 October 21, “Finally”, in The Billboard, volume 56, number 43, page 23

Examples of John Hancock in a sentence

  • Can I have your auto—your John Hancock, please?1996, 30:38 from the start, in Space Jam, Burbank, Calif.: Warner Home Video, →ISBN:
  • Audrey and crew even squeezed frail grocer Frank Morgan, the victim, into adding his John Hancock to the parole petition.2005, Dary Matera, John Dillinger: The Life and Death of America's First Celebrity Criminal, trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y....
  • [Jack] Lew is not the first Treasury secretary to change his John Hancock upon arrival at 1500 Pennsylvania Ave.2013 June 18, Zachary A. Goldfarb, “Treasury Secretary Jack Lew unveils new signature after quibbles with his scribble”, in The Washington...

Forms of John Hancock

Noun
pluralJohn Hancocks
Verb
third-person singular presentJohn Hancocks
present participleJohn Hancocking
past participleJohn Hancocked
pastJohn Hancocked

Origin of John Hancock

Named after American merchant and statesman John Hancock (1737–1793), the first person to sign the United States Declaration of Independence. According to legend, he signed his name prominently to be sure George III could read it, causing his name to become an eponym for a signature. However, other examples show that Hancock always wrote his signature this way.

Questions about John Hancock

What does John Hancock mean?
John Hancock means a person's signature.
How do you use John Hancock in a sentence?
Can I have your auto—your John Hancock, please?
What part of speech is John Hancock?
John Hancock can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce John Hancock?
John Hancock is pronounced /dʒɒn ˈhænkɒk/ (UK).
What is the plural of John Hancock?
The plural of John Hancock is John Hancocks.

Words near John Hancock in the dictionary

  1. John Dorees
  2. John Dories
  3. John Dory
  4. John Fraud Kerry
  5. John Frum
  6. John Hancock
  7. John Hancocked
  8. John Hancocking
  9. John Hancocks
  10. John Henry
  11. John Henryism

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: John Hancock (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-John_Hancock.ogg, en-au-John Hancock.ogg.

Cite this entry: “John Hancock.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/john_hancock. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.