mark
see also: Mark
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /mɑːk/, (America) IPA: /mɑɹk/
Noun

mark (plural marks)

  1. (heading) Boundary, land within a boundary.
    1. (obsolete) A boundary; a border or frontier. [9th–19th c.]
    2. (obsolete) A boundary-post or fence. [13th–18th c.]
    3. A stone or post used to indicate position and guide travellers. [from 14th c.]
      • 1859, Henry Bull, A history, military and municipal, of the ancient borough of the Devizes:
        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.
    4. (archaic) A type of small region or principality. [from 18th c.]
      • 1954, J R R Tolkien, The Two Towers:
        There dwells Théoden son of Thengel, King of the Mark of Rohan.
    5. (historical) A common, or area of common land, especially among early Germanic peoples. [from 19th c.]
  2. (heading) Characteristic, sign, visible impression.
    1. An omen; a symptomatic indicator of something. [from 8th c.]
      • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride And Prejudice:
        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.
    2. A characteristic feature. [from 16th c.]
      A good sense of manners is the mark of a true gentleman.
      • 1643, Sir Thomas Browne, Religio Medici:
        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. [from 9th c.]
      • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula:
        Then she put before her face her poor crushed hands, which bore on their whiteness the red mark of the Count's terrible grip […].
    4. A sign or brand on a person. [from 10th c.]
      • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970 ↗:
        , III.iv.2.6:
        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.
    5. A written character or sign. [from 10th c.]
      The font wasn't able to render all the diacritical marks properly.
    6. A stamp or other indication of provenance, quality etc. [from 11th c.]
      With eggs, you need to check for the quality mark before you buy.
      • The mark of the artisan is found upon the most ancient fabrics that have come to light.
    7. (obsolete) Resemblance, likeness, image. [14th–16th c.]
      • c.1380, Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Franklin's Tale’, Canterbury Tales:
        Which mankynde is so fair part of thy werk / That thou it madest lyk to thyn owene merk.
    8. A particular design or make of an item (now usually with following numeral). [from 15th c.]
      I am proud to present my patented travelator, mark two.
    9. A score for finding the correct answer, or other academic achievement; the sum of such point gained as out of a possible total. [from 19th c.]
      What mark did you get in your history test?
  3. (heading) Indicator of position, objective etc.
    1. A target for shooting at with a projectile. [from 13th c.]
      • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, John Florio, transl., The Essayes, […], printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821 ↗:
        , II.1:
        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.
      • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, p.37:
        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 that age might shoot at any mark whose distance was less than eleven score yards.
    2. An indication or sign used for reference or measurement. [from 14th c.]
      I filled the bottle up to the 500ml mark.
    3. The target or intended victim of a swindle, fixed game or con game. [from 18th c.]
    4. (obsolete) The female genitals. [16th–18th c.]
      • 1596, William Shakespeare, Love's Labours Lost, I.4:
        A mark saies my Lady. Let the mark haue a prick in't, to meate at, if it may be.
      • 1749, John Cleland, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, Penguin, 1985, p.68:
        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 […].
    5. (Australian rules football) A catch of the ball directly from a kick of 10 metres or more without having been touched in transit, resulting in a free kick. [from 19th c.]
    6. (sports) The line indicating an athlete's starting-point. [from 19th c.]
    7. A score for a sporting achievement. [from 20th c.]
    8. An official note that is added to a record kept about someone's behavior or performance.
      • 1871, Chicago Board of Education, Annual Report (vol.17, p.102)
        A mark for tardiness or for absence is considered by most pupils a disgrace, and strenuous efforts are made to avoid such a mark.
    9. (cooking) A specified level on a scale denoting gas-powered oven temperatures. [from 20th c.]
      Now put the pastry in at 450 degrees, or mark 8.
    10. Limit or standard of action or fact.
      to be within the mark;  to come up to the mark
    11. Badge or sign of honour, rank, or official station.
    12. (archaic) Preeminence; high position.
      patricians of mark;  a fellow of no mark
    13. (logic) A characteristic or essential attribute; a differential.
    14. (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".)
  4. (heading) Attention.
    1. (archaic) Attention, notice. [from 15th c.]
      His last comment is particularly worthy of mark.
    2. Importance, noteworthiness. (Generally in postmodifier “of mark”.) [from 16th c.]
      • 1909, Richard Burton, Masters of the English Novel:
        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.
    3. (obsolete) Regard; respect.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

mark (marks, present participle marking; past and past participle marked)

  1. To put a mark on (something); to make (something) recognizable by a mark; to label or write on (something).
    to mark a box or bale of merchandise
    to mark clothing with one's name
    • 1865, Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1869, Chapter 1, p. 10,
      […] if you drink much from a bottle marked “poison,” it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later.
    • 1969, William Trevor, Mrs. Eckdorf in O'Neill's Hotel, Penguin, 1973, Chapter 11, p. 177,
      Her son wrote badly, as if fearful of marking the page at all.
  2. To leave a mark (often an undesirable or unwanted one) on (something).
    Synonyms: blemish, scar, scratch, stain
    See where this pencil has marked the paper.
    The floor was marked with wine and blood.
    • 1717, Alexander Pope (translator), The Iliad of Homer, London: Bernard Lintott, Volume 3, Book 12, p. 229,
      Those Wheels returning ne’er shall mark the Plain;
    • 1846, Frederick Douglass, speech given on 12 May, 1846, in My Bondage and My Freedom, New York: Miller, Orton and Mulligan, 1855, Appendix, p. 410,
      Advertisements are from time to time inserted, stating that slaves have escaped […] marked with the lash, branded with red-hot irons, the initials of their master’s name burned into their flesh;
  3. (figurative) To have a long-lasting negative impact on (someone or something).
    • 1939, John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (novel), Penguin, 1976, Chapter 10, p. 104,
      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.
    • 1998, Octavia Butler, Parable of the Talents (novel), New York: Seven Stories Press, p. 279,
      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?
  4. To create an indication of (a location).
    She folded over the corner of the page to mark where she left off reading.
    Some animals mark their territory by urinating.
  5. To be an indication of (something); to show where (something) is located.
    This monument marks the spot where Wolfe died.
    A bell marked the end of visiting hours.
    Synonyms: demonstrate, indicate, manifest, reveal, show, signal
    • 1700, John Dryden, Fables Ancient and Modern, London: Jacob Tonson, “The Wife of Bath Her Tale,” p. 479,
      And where the jolly Troop [of elves and fairies] had led the round
      The Grass unbidden rose, and mark’d the Ground:
    • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, London: T. Egerton, Volume 1, Chapter 4, p. 49,
      She gave her an answer which marked her contempt, and instantly left the room,
    • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair (novel), London: Bradbury and Evans, Chapter 58, p. 528,
      […] the cloth was laid for him […] and a plate laid thereon to mark that the table was retained,
    • 1973, Jan Morris, Pax Britannica Trilogy, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980, Part 1, Chapter 3, section 6, p. 61,
      […] the lazy circling vultures marked the Hill of Execution, which was littered with human bones and scavenged by hyaenas.
    • 2019, Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, New York: Penguin, Part 1, p. 16,
      Her forehead, lashed deep with lines, marked her fifty-six years.
  6. To indicate (something) in writing or by other symbols.
    Prices are marked on individual items.
    In her Bible, the words of Christ were marked in red.
    Synonyms: display, show, write
    • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, London: W. Taylor, p. 219,
      […] 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;
    • 1875, Benjamin Farjeon, At the Sign of the Silver Flagon, New York: Harper, Part 3, Chapter 2, p. 84,
      “What does the clock mark now?”
      “Eight minutes to seven.”
  7. To create (a mark) on a surface.
    Synonyms: draw, trace
    • 1768, Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, London: T. Becket and P.A. De Hondt, Volume 2, “Maria,” p. 175,
      […] on opening it [the handkerchief], I saw an S mark’d in one of the corners.
    • 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, Book 3, Chapter 10, p. 220,
      I mark this cross of blood upon you, as a sign that I do it.
    • 1988, Barbara Kingsolver, The Bean Trees, New York: HarperCollins, Chapter 6, p. 82,
      […] I was testing a stack of old whitewalls, dunking them in the water and marking a yellow chalk circle around each leak.
  8. To celebrate or acknowledge (an event) through an action of some kind.
    The national holiday is marked by fireworks.
    Synonyms: commemorate, solemnize
    • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty, London: Picador, Chapter 11, p. 316,
      It was only four thirty but Gerald was marking his guests’ arrival with a Pimm’s,
  9. (of things) To identify (someone as a particular type of person or as having a particular role).
    His courage and energy marked him as a leader.
    • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma (novel), London: John Murray, Volume 2, Chapter 8, p. 134,
      […] the son approached her with a cheerful eagerness which marked her as his peculiar object,
    • 1901, Rudyard Kipling, Kim (novel), London: Macmillan, 1902, Chapter 5, p. 115,
      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.
    • 1968, Bessie Head, When Rain Clouds Gather, Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 2013, Chapter 1, p. 1,
      His long thin falling-away cheekbones marked him as a member of either the Xhosa or Zulu tribe.
    • 2016, Julian Barnes, The Noise of Time, Random House, Prologue,
      Enquiring about the movement of trains—even if you were a passenger on one—could mark you as a saboteur.
  10. (of people) To assign (someone) to a particular category or class.
    Synonyms: classify, mark out
    • 1951, Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Part 2, Chapter 10, p. 113,
      The new captain would read the fitness report and mark him once and for all as an unreliable fool […]
  11. (of people) To choose or intend (someone) for a particular end or purpose.
    Synonyms: destine, mark out, target
    • circa 1611 George Chapman (translator), The Iliads of Homer, London: Nathaniel Butter, Book 1, p. 3,
      When a king, hath once markt for his hate, / A man inferior; […] / […] euermore, he rakes vp in his brest, / Brands of quicke anger;
    • 1970, Saul Bellow, Mr. Sammler's Planet, New York: Viking, Chapter 5, p. 230,
      […] I know now that humankind marks certain people for death.
  12. To be a point in time or space at which something takes place; to accompany or be accompanied by (an event, action, etc.); to coincide with.
    The creek marks the boundary between the two farms.
    That summer marked the beginning of her obsession with cycling.
    Synonyms: represent, see
    • 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Princess of Mars, New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1917, Chapter 16, p. 172,
      […] we hastened toward the bordering desert which marked our entrance into the realm of Tal Hajus.
    • 1962, Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Chapter 3, p. 17,
      Although the Second World War marked a turning away from inorganic chemicals as pesticides into the wonder world of the carbon molecule, a few of the old materials persist.
    • 2002, Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex (novel), New York: Farrar, Straux, Giroux, p. 93,
      My grandfather’s short employ at the Ford Motor Company marked the only time any Stephanides has ever worked in the automobile industry.
  13. To be typical or characteristic of (something).
    Synonyms: characterize, typify
    • 1818, Susan Edmonstone Ferrier, Marriage, Edinburgh: William Blackwood, Volume 3, Chapter 18, p. 264,
      […] he still retained that simple, unostentatious elegance, that marks the man of real fashion—
    • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, Chapter 9, p. 145,
      “Ah,” replied Roger Chillingworth, with that quietness which […] marked all his deportment,
    • 1908, Arnold Bennett, The Old Wives' Tale, New York: Modern Library, 1911, Book 4, Chapter 1, p. 487,
      […] Cyril’s attitude to his mother was marked by a certain benevolent negligence
  14. To distinguish (one person or thing from another).
    • 1823, Lord Byron, Don Juan (poem), London: Hodgson, Canto 8, stanza 130, p. 313,
      Indeed the smoke was such they scarce could mark
      Their friends from foes,
    • 1943, Maurice Bowra, The Heritage of Symbolism, London: Macmillan, 1954, Chapter 1, p. 2,
      Despite their obvious differences these poets had a common view of life which marks them from their predecessors […]
    • 1983, Elizabeth George Speare, The Sign of the Beaver, New York: Dell, 1984, Chapter 24, p. 127,
      Each day was so like the day before, and Christmas Day, when it came, would not have anything to mark it from all the others.
  15. (dated) To focus one's attention on (something or someone); to pay attention to, to take note of.
    Synonyms: heed, listen to, look at, observe, watch
    Mark my words: that boy’s up to no good.
    • circa 1595 William Shakespeare, Richard II (play), Act II, Scene 1,
      More are men’s ends mark’d than their lives before:
    • circa 1598 William Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing, Act I, Scene 1,
      I wonder that you will still be talking, Signior Benedick: nobody marks you.
    • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Book of Psalms 37.37,
      Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.
    • 1853, Elizabeth Gaskell, Ruth (novel), London: Chapman and Hall, Volume 1, Chapter 5, p. 137,
      When they had passed out of the wood into the pasture-land beyond, Ruth once more turned to mark him.
    • 2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, New York: Henry Holt, Part 6, Chapter 2, p. 522,
      “When Wolsey came down, I said, mark him, he’s a sharp fellow. […] ”
  16. (dated) To become aware of (something) through the physical senses.
    Synonyms: hear, note, notice, observe, perceive, see
    • 1726, Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, London: B. Motte, Volume 2, Part 4, Chapter 1, p. 161,
      Some of them [the Animals] coming forward near the place where I lay, gave me an opportunity of distinctly marking their Form.
    • 1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, Chapter 53, p. 525,
      He bent his eyes involuntarily upon the father as he spoke, and marked his uneasiness, for he coloured directly and turned his head away.
    • 1881, John Bascom, “Improvements in Language” in The Western: A Journal of Literature, Education, and Art, New Series, Volume 7, No. 6, December, 1881, p. 499,
      […] it is to be remembered that a poor speller is a poor pronouncer. The ear does not mark the sound any more exactly than the eye marks the letters.
    • 1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965, Appendix A, pp. 347-348,
      Helm had a great horn, and soon it was marked that before he sallied forth he would blow a blast upon it that echoed in the Deep;
  17. To hold (someone) in one's line of sight.
    • 1956, Mary Renault, The Last of the Wine, New York: Pantheon, Chapter 22, p. 268,
      I marked my man, standing on the catwalk, and waited to throw [my javelin] till he started to climb inboard before they rammed.
  18. To indicate the correctness of and give a score to (a school assignment, exam answers, etc.).
    The teacher had to spend her weekend marking all the tests.
    Synonyms: grade, score
  19. To record that (someone) has a particular status.
    to mark a student absent.
  20. (transitive, intransitive) To keep account of; to enumerate and register; to keep score.
    to mark the points in a game of billiards or a card game
    • 1869, Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, Hartford, CT: American Publishing Company, Chapter 12, p. 116,
      Dan was to mark while the doctor and I played [billiards].
  21. (sports) To follow a player not in possession of the ball when defending, to prevent them receiving a pass easily.
  22. (Australian rules football) To catch the ball directly from a kick of 15 metres or more without having been touched in transit, resulting in a free kick.
  23. (golf) To put a marker in the place of one's ball.
  24. (singing) To sing softly, sometimes an octave lower than usual, in order to protect one's voice during a rehearsal.
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Noun

mark (plural marks)

  1. A measure of weight (especially for gold and silver), once used throughout Europe, equivalent to 8 oz.
    • 1997, Bernard Scudder, translating ‘Egil's Saga’, in The Sagas of Icelanders, Penguin 2001, page 91:
      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.
  2. (now, historical) An English and Scottish unit of currency (originally valued at one mark weight of silver), equivalent to 13 shillings and fourpence.
    • 1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Oxford 2010, p. 42:
      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.’
    • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, page 167:
      He had been made a royal counsellor, drawing a substantial annual salary of a hundred marks.
  3. Any of various European monetary units, especially the base unit of currency of Germany between 1948 and 2002, equal to 100 pfennigs.
  4. A coin worth one mark.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations
  • Portuguese: marco
  • Russian: ма́рка
Verb
  1. (imperative, marching) Alternative form of march.
    Mark time, mark!
    Forward, mark!

Mark
Pronunciation
  • (Australia) IPA: /maːk/
  • (British) IPA: /mɑː(ɹ)k/
  • (America) IPA: /mɑɹk/
Proper noun
  1. A male given name.
    • 1988, Ann Oakley, Men's Room, page 25-26:
      "And your name?" she said, "I suppose it's quite unremarkable?" "Very funny." "Mark. It could stand as a symbol of a man, for men as a category," she reflected, "but I don't suppose that's why your mother gave it to you?" "My mother's motives always were impenetrable to me. I was her only child, she wanted a simple life. So she gave me a simple name to go along with it. --- It wasn't a popular name until the nineteenth century. People were put off by King Mark in the Tristram and Iseult."
  2. Mark the Evangelist, also called John Mark, the first patriarch of Alexandria, credited with the authorship of the Gospel of Mark.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗:
      , Acts 15: 37-39:
      And Barnabas was determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought it not good to take him with them, who departed from them in Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder from the other; and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed to Cyprus.
  3. (biblical) The Gospel of St. Mark, a book of the New Testament of the Bible. Traditionally the second of the four gospels.
    Synonyms: Mar.
  4. Surname
Related terms Translations Translations Translations
  • French: Marc
  • German: Markus
  • Italian: Marco
  • Portuguese: Marcos
  • Russian: Ева́нгелие от Ма́рка
  • Spanish: Evangelio según San Marcos, Marcos
Noun
  1. (galaxy) Abbreviation of Markarian#English|Markarian.
Synonyms
  • Mkr, Mkr., MKR
  • Mrk, Mrk., MRK
  • Mkn, Mkn., MKN



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