E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Significa’vit.
A writ of Chancery given by the ordinary to keep an excommunicate in prison till he submitted to the authority of the Church. The writ, which is now obsolete, used to begin with “Significavit nobis venerabilis pater,” etc. Chaucer says of his Sompnour—
