mark

1. (obsolete) A boundary; a border or frontier.

2. (obsolete) A boundary-post or fence.

3. A stone or post used to indicate position and guide travellers.

   • I do remember a great thron in Yatton field near Bristow-way, against which Sir William Waller's men made a great fire and killed it. I think the stump remains, and was a mark for travellers. - 1859, Henry Bull, A...

4. (sports) The line indicating an athlete's starting-point.

5. (archaic) A type of small region or principality.

   • There dwells Théoden son of Thengel, King of the Mark of Rohan. - 1954, J R R Tolkien, The Two Towers:

6. (historical) A common, or area of common land, especially among early Germanic peoples.

• depend upon it, you will speedily receive from me a letter of thanks for this as well as for every other mark of your regard during my stay in Hertfordshire. - 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […],...

1. An omen; a symptomatic indicator of something.

2. A characteristic feature.

   • A good sense of manners is the mark of a true gentleman.
   • there is surely a physiognomy, which those experienced and master mendicants observe, whereby they instantly discover a merciful aspect, and will single out a face, wherein they spy the signatures and marks of mercy. -...

3. A visible impression or sign; a blemish, scratch, or stain, whether accidental or intentional.

   • Then she put before her face her poor crushed hands, which bore on their whiteness the red mark of the Count's terrible grip[…]. - 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […],...

4. A sign or brand on a person.

   • Doubt not of thine election, it is an immutable decree; a mark never to be defaced: you have been otherwise, you may and shall be. - 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “III.iv.2.6”, in The Anatomy of...

5. A written character or sign.

   • The font wasn't able to render all the diacritical marks properly.

6. A stamp or other indication of provenance, quality etc.

   • With eggs, you need to check for the quality mark before you buy.
   • But vvhat a vvretched, and diſconſolate Hermitage is that Houſe, vvhich is not viſited by thee [God], and vvhat a VVayue, and Stray is that Man, that hath not thy Markes vpon him? - 1624, John Donne, “13. Prayer”, in...
   • The mark of the artisan is found upon the most ancient fabrics that have come to light. - 1876, Edward H. Knight, American Mechanical Dictionary:

7. Badge or sign of honour, rank, or official station.

   • In the official marks invested, you / Anon do meet the Senate. - 1605, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Coriolanus:

8. (archaic) Preeminence; high position.

   • patricians of mark
   • a fellow of no mark

9. (logic) A characteristic or essential attribute; a differential.

10. An indication or sign used for reference or measurement.

    • I filled the bottle up to the 500ml mark.

11. (cooking) A specified level on a scale denoting gas-powered oven temperatures.

    • Now put the pastry in at 450 degrees, or mark 8.

12. (nautical) One of the bits of leather or coloured bunting placed upon a sounding line at intervals of from two to five fathoms. (The unmarked fathoms are called "deeps".)

13. (obsolete) Resemblance, likeness, image.

14. A particular design or make of an item (now usually with following numeral).

    • I am proud to present my patented travelator, mark two.

15. (product design/engineering) The model number of a device; a device model.

    • The Mark I system had poor radar, and the Mark II was too expensive; regardless, most antiaircraft direction remained the responsibility of the Mark I Eyeball (as the jocular phrase calls it): that is, the operator's...

• What mark did you get in your history test?

1. (Commonwealth) A score for finding the correct answer, or other academic achievement; the sum of such points gained as out of a possible total.

2. A score for a sporting achievement.

3. An official note that is added to a record kept about someone's behavior or performance.

   • A mark for tardiness or for absence is considered by most pupils a disgrace, and strenuous efforts are made to avoid such a mark. - 1871, Chicago Board of Education, Annual Report, volume 17, page 102:

• A skilfull archer ought first to know the marke he aimeth at, and then apply his hand, his bow, his string, his arrow and his motion accordingly. - , II.1
• To give them an accurate eye and strength of arm, none under twenty-four years of age might shoot at any standing mark, except it was for a rover, and then he was to change his mark at every shot; and no person above...

1. A target for shooting at with a projectile.

2. (informal) The target or intended victim of a swindle, fixed game or con game; a gullible person.

   • Another common form of short con is the shell game. This scam has the advantage of giving the criminal the ability to rip off many marks all at one location. - 2009, Michael Benson, Cons and Frauds, Infobase, →ISBN,...
   • [Xi Jinping] asked for Trump's personal attention to the issue, probably figuring he had identified his mark and wasn't going to let him get away. - 2020 June 23, John Bolton, The Room Where It Happened: A White House...
   • Dominic Di Grasso (Michael Imperioli): How are you gonna make it in life if you're this big a mark? Albie Di Grasso (Adam DiMarco): I'm not a mark. - 2022 December 11, Mike White, “Arrivederci”, in Mike White, director,...

3. (professional wrestling) A professional wrestling fan who believes matches are legitimate contests rather than scripted or predetermined.

• But faults so countenanced, that the strong statutes Stand like the forfeits in a barber's shop, as much in mock as mark - 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure:

1. (archaic) Attention, notice.

   • His last comment is particularly worthy of mark.

2. Importance, noteworthiness. (Generally in postmodifier “of mark”.)

   • in the short story of western flavor he was a pioneer of mark, the founder of a genre: probably no other writer is so significant in his field. - 1909, Richard Burton, Masters of the English Novel:

3. (obsolete) Regard; respect.

• A mark saies my Lady. Let the mark haue a prick in't, to meate at, if it may be. - c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies...
• her thighs were still spread, and the mark lay fair for him, who, now kneeling between them, displayed to us a side-view of that fierce erect machine of his[…]. - 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or...

• to be within the mark
• to come up to the mark

• As a reward for his poetry, Athelstan gave Egil two more gold rings weighing a mark each, along with an expensive cloak that the king himself had worn. - 1997, “Egil's Saga”, in Bernard Scudder, transl., The Sagas of...

• George, on receiving it, instantly rose from the side of one of them, and said, in the hearing of them all, ‘I will bet a hundred merks that is Drummond.’ - 1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a...
• He had been made a royal counsellor, drawing a substantial annual salary of a hundred marks. - 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin, published 2012, page 167:

• Aus der Geschichte der menschlichen Dummheit. By Dr. Max Kemmerich. Price 3 mark 50 pfennige. Bavaria: Verlag Albert Langen, Munich. - 1928 November, “Reviews”, in The Occult Review, volume XLVIII, number 5, London:...

• to mark a box or bale of merchandise
• to mark clothing with one's name
• [I]f you drink much from a bottle marked “poison,” it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later. - 1865 November (indicated as 1866), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “Down the...

• See where this pencil has marked the paper.
• The floor was marked with wine and blood.
• Those Wheels returning ne’er shall mark the Plain; - 1717, Alexander Pope, transl., The Iliad of Homer, London: Bernard Lintott, Volume 3, Book 12, p. 229:

Synonyms: blemish scar scratch stain

• The death of his wife, followed by months of being alone, had marked him with guilt and shame and had left an unbreaking loneliness on him. - 1939, John Steinbeck, chapter 10, in The Grapes of Wrath, Penguin, published...
• What Uncle Marc had been through as a slave marked him, I’m sure, but I don’t know how much. How can you know what a man would be like if he had grown up unmarked by horror? - 1998, Octavia Butler, Parable of the...
• It is time the international community faced the reality: we have an unmanageable, unfair, distortionary global tax regime. It is a tax system that is pivotal in creating the increasing inequality that marks most...

• She folded over the corner of the page to mark where she left off reading.
• Some animals mark their territory by urinating.

• This monument marks the spot where Wolfe died.
• A bell marked the end of visiting hours.
• And where the jolly Troop [of elves and fairies] had led the round The Grass unbidden rose, and mark’d the Ground: - 1700, John Dryden, “The Wife of Bath Her Tale”, in Fables Ancient and Modern, London: Jacob Tonson,...

Synonyms: demonstrate indicate manifest reveal show signal

• Prices are marked on individual items.
• In her Bible, the words of Christ were marked in red.
• […] it was in the middle of May, on the sixteenth Day I think, as well as my poor wooden Calendar would reckon; for I markt all upon the Post still; - 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and...

Synonyms: display show write

• […] on opening it [the handkerchief], I saw an S mark’d in one of the corners. - 1768, Laurence Sterne, “Maria”, in A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, volume 2, London: T. Becket and P.A. De Hondt, page 175:
• I mark this cross of blood upon you, as a sign that I do it. - 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, Book 3, Chapter 10, p. 220:
• […] I was testing a stack of old whitewalls, dunking them in the water and marking a yellow chalk circle around each leak. - 1988, Barbara Kingsolver, chapter 6, in The Bean Trees, New York: HarperCollins, page 82:

Synonyms: draw trace

• The national holiday is marked by fireworks.
• It was only four thirty but Gerald was marking his guests’ arrival with a Pimm’s, […] - 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 11, in The Line of Beauty […], 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN,...

Synonyms: commemorate solemnize

• His courage and energy marked him as a leader.
• […] the son approached her with a cheerful eagerness which marked her as his peculiar object, - 1815, Jane Austen, chapter 8, in Emma, volume 2, London: John Murray, page 134:
• The black dress, gold cross on the watch-chain, the hairless face, and the soft, black wideawake hat would have marked him as a holy man anywhere in all India. - 1901, Rudyard Kipling, chapter 5, in Kim, London:...

• The new captain would read the fitness report and mark him once and for all as an unreliable fool […] - 1951, Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Part 2, Chapter 10, p. 113:

Synonyms: classify mark out

• When a king, hath once markt for his hate, / A man inferior; […] / […] euermore, he rakes vp in his brest, / Brands of quicke anger; - [1611?], Homer, “The First Booke of Homers Iliads”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl.,...
• […] I know now that humankind marks certain people for death. - 1970, Saul Bellow, chapter 5, in Mr. Sammler’s Planet, New York: Viking, page 230:

Synonyms: destine mark out target

• The creek marks the boundary between the two farms.
• That summer marked the beginning of her obsession with cycling.
• […] we hastened toward the bordering desert which marked our entrance into the realm of Tal Hajus. - 1912 February–July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Under the Moons of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey...

Synonyms: represent see

• Mark time, mark!
• Forward, mark!