symbols

1. A character or glyph representing an idea, concept or object.

   $ is the symbol for dollars in the US and some other countries.

2. A thing considered the embodiment of a concept or object.

   The lion is the symbol of courage; the lamb is the symbol of meekness or patience.

3. A type of noun whereby the form refers to the same entity independently of the context; a symbol arbitrarily denotes a referent. See also icon and index.
4. A summary of a dogmatic statement of faith.

   The Apostles, Nicene Creed and the confessional books of Protestantism, such as the Augsburg Confession of Lutheranism are considered symbols.

5. The numerical expression which defines a plane's position relative to the assumed axes.
6. That which is thrown into a common fund; hence, an appointed or accustomed duty.
7. Share; allotment.
8. An internal identifier used by a debugger to relate parts of the compiled program to the corresponding names in the source code.
9. A signalling event on a communications channel; a signal that cannot be further divided into meaningful information.

verb

To symbolize.