guide vs signal

guide

noun
  • A sign that guides people; guidepost. 

  • Someone who guides, especially someone hired to show people around a place or an institution and offer information and explanation, or to lead them through dangerous terrain. 

  • A grooved director for a probe or knife in surgery. 

  • A blade or channel for directing the flow of water to the buckets in a water wheel. 

  • A spirit believed to speak through a medium. 

  • A member of a group marching in formation who sets the pattern of movement or alignment for the rest. 

  • A document or book that offers information or instruction; guidebook. 

  • Any marking or object that catches the eye to provide quick reference. 

verb
  • to serve as a guide for someone or something; to lead or direct in a way; to conduct in a course or path. 

  • to act as a guide. 

  • to exert control or influence over someone or something. 

  • to supervise the education or training of someone. 

  • to steer or navigate, especially a ship or as a pilot. 

signal

noun
  • A sign made to give notice of some occurrence, command, or danger, or to indicate the start of a concerted action. 

  • A token; an indication; a foreshadowing; a sign. 

  • A signalling interaction between cells 

  • An electromagnetic action, normally a voltage that is a function of time, that conveys the information of the radio or TV program or of communication with another party. 

  • Any variation of a quantity or change in an entity over time that conveys information upon detection. 

  • An on-off light, semaphore, or other device used to give an indication to another person. 

  • A simple interprocess communication used to notify a process or thread of an occurrence. 

  • Useful information, as opposed to noise. 

  • An action, change or process done to convey information and thus reduce uncertainty. 

  • A sequence of states representing an encoded message in a communication channel. 

adj
  • Standing above others in rank, importance, or achievement. 

verb
  • To communicate with (a person or system) by a signal. 

  • To indicate; to convey or communicate by a signal. 

How often have the words guide and signal occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )