§ 80.001.Definition

A single definition, drawn wide enough that almost nothing outdoors escapes it.

"Sign" means an outdoor structure, sign, display, light device, figure, painting, drawing, message, plaque, poster, billboard, or any other thing that is designed, intended, or used to advertise or inform.

Twelve nouns plus a catch-all, and the operative limit is the purpose clause: the thing must be designed, intended, or used to advertise or inform.

Three verbs cover the purpose, and the third matters. Something not designed as a sign but used as one is within the definition.

The chapter is about commercial outdoor advertising — billboards on leased land, mainly — and the breadth of the definition prevents an operator arguing that a particular structure is not a "sign".

"Or inform" alongside "advertise" extends past commercial messages to public notices and political displays.

The definition then feeds the trespass section, which makes erecting a sign without permission, or leaving one up after an agreement ends, a trespass — and the damages section, which measures recovery by the sign owner's revenue rather than the landowner's loss.