| 释义 |
▪ I. mark, n.1|mɑːk|
Forms 1 mearc, Anglian merc, (also ᵹemierce, ᵹemęrce, Northumb. merce, merca), 2 marc, 3–5 merk(e, (Orm. merrke), merc(k, marck(e, 4, 7 marque, 4– mark.
[OE. mearc, Anglian merc, str. fem., boundary, landmark, sign = OFris. merik(e, merke, boundary, sign, OS. marka boundary (MDu. marke, mod.Du. mark), OHG. marcha boundary (MHG., mod.G. mark fem.), ON. mǫrk (known only in the derived sense ‘forest’; Sw., Da. mark field, ground), Goth. marka boundary, landmark:—OTeut. *markâ. A neuter form (:—OTeut. type *markom) exists in several Teut. langs. with the senses ‘sign’, ‘landmark’, ‘standard’, etc.: MDu. mark (mod.Du. merk), MHG. mark (mod.G. has marke fem., prob. influenced by F. marque), ON., MSw. mark. The ME. form merke (disyllable), while normally representing the OAnglian pronunciation merc, may in part descend from ONorthumb. męrce (also written męrca), token, sign, and in part also from an adoption of the equivalent ON. merki neut., landmark, standard, sign (Sw. märke, Da. merke):—OTeut. type *markjom, f. *markâ (see above); it may also, in northern dialects, represent partly the ONorthumb. ᵹemęrce sign, token (= WS. ᵹemierce, OHG. gimerchi boundary:—OTeut. *ga-markjom), as the prefix ᵹe- of ns. did not survive into ME., and the palatalized c in final syllables became k in northern Eng. According to phonetic law the ME. merke regularly became mark in mod.Eng., thus coalescing with the descendant of WS. mearc.
The Teut. word and its derivative vb. were early adopted into Romanic; the n. appears as OF. merc, marc masc., F. marque fem., mark, sign, etc., marche (ONF. marque) boundary (see march n.3), Pr., Sp., Pg., It. marca mark, sign, boundary. Some of the senses developed in F. marque have coloured the application of the Eng. word.
The OTeut. *markâ appears to be cogn. w. L. margo margin, OCeltic *mrogi- country (Gaulish brogi- in place-names, Welsh brô, OIrish mruig, bruig), Persian marz boundary. The extra-Teut. relations confirm the view which is suggested by the evidence of Teut. itself, that the primitive sense is ‘boundary’. The order of development of senses which appears most probable, and is assumed as the basis of the arrangement below, is ‘boundary’, ‘sign of a boundary’, ‘sign in general’, ‘impression, trace or device used as a sign’, ‘impression, trace, etc. in general’. Some scholars, however, have considered the sense ‘visible trace’ as primitive (comparing Lith. margas parti-coloured), and have supposed the sense ‘boundary’ to be either derived from this or to belong to an independent word.]
I. Boundary.
1. a. A boundary, frontier, limit; rarely in pl. † territories. Obs. exc. Hist. and arch.
701in Birch Cart. Sax. (1885) I. 148 Swa be mearce to grenmenes stiᵹele..þonon suð andlang mearce to þes gores suð ende. c1250Gen. & Ex. 3490 He ledde hem to ðe muntes fot, Non but non [? read he] forðere ne mot, And on is broðer aaron; God bad hem ðat merke ouer-gon. 1340–70Alisaunder 173 The marques of Molosor menskliche hee aught. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 45 But afterward, for þe weyes were not so sette wiþ certeyn markes [orig. certis limitibus distinctæ], þe weies were vncerteyn and stryf was bygonne. Ibid. 103 Þe merkes and þe meres þerof [Mercia] were in þe west side þeryuer Dee..; in þe est þe est see, in the souþ Temse. c1400Mandeville (1839) xiii. 144 In þat contre of libye is the see more high þan the lond, and it semeth þat it wolde couere the erthe, and natheles ȝit it passeþ not his markes. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 36 In a wode of the markeys of that cuntre Two hermytys dwellyd. 1494Fabyan Chron. v. cix. 82 The meris or markis of this Kyngdome of North humberlande were [etc.]. 1530Palsgr. 243/1 Marke bytwene two places, limite. 1535Coverdale Prov. viii. 29 He shutt the see within certayne bowndes, that y⊇ waters shulde not go ouer their marckes. 1832‘B. Cornwall’ (B. W. Proctor) Sea i, The Sea! the Sea! the open Sea!.. Without a mark, without a bound. 1883Chamb. Jrnl. 36 When the Marquis of Leominster was a Marquis indeed, with a mark to guard. 1892Henley Song of Sword, etc., Lond. Volunt. iii. 22 The afflicted city, prone from mark to mark In shameful occultation.
†b. Of immaterial things: A limit or precise boundary line or point. Obs.
a1000Cædmon's Gen. 1719 (Gr.) Þa þæs mæles wæs mearc agongen. a1225Ancr. R. 228 Auh iðe temptaciun he haueð iset to þe ueonde a merke, ase þauh he seide—tempte hire so ueor [etc.]. 1340Ayenb. 223 Liȝtliche huanne þe lost ne paseþ naȝt þe markes ne þe zetnesses of spoushod. c1400Destr. Troy 7696 The Sun in his Sercle set was o loft, At the merke of þe mydday. 1435Misyn Fire of Love 38 Þou art þe end of heuynes, þe mark of labirs, beginyng of fruyts. c1449Pecock Repr. i. x. 50 These craftis kepten not to hem silf her propre and seuerel to hem silf boundis and markis.
2. Hist. The name applied in mediæval Germany to the tract of land held in common by a village community. Hence used by many modern scholars to denote the tract of land similarly held by one of the village communities of primitive Teutonic times. Also attrib., as in mark-community, mark-family, mark-system; markmoot (pseudo-arch.), a (supposed) assembly of the inhabitants of the ‘mark’.
Kemble's fancy that OE. mearc was the name of a unit of territorial organization next below the shire (scír or gá) has no foundation. The alleged OE. *mearcmót ‘mark-moot’, has no existence: the mercemot occurring in a schedule of boundaries of land at Barrow-on-Humber in 971 (Birch C.S. No. 1270) may perh. mean ‘parsley-bed’, and in any case does not admit of Kemble's interpretation.
1848Kemble Saxons in Eng. (1876) I. iii. 76 As then the word Mark is used to denote two distinct things,—a territorial division and a corporate body,—so does the word Gá or Scír denote both [etc.]. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. iii. 84 Such a community occupies its own territory, its mark. Ibid. 98 The unit is the Mark, roughly represented by the modern parish or manor. 1874Stubbs Const. Hist. (1875) I. ii. 34 We have not the mark system. Ibid. v. 84 note, That the markmoot was a court of justice..seems altogether improbable. Ibid. 85 It is as an owner of land, not as a member of the mark-community, that the freeman has rights. 1876Digby Real Prop. i. §1. 5 Each community occupied a territory or mark, which was divided into three, or rather four portions. 1887Edin. Rev. Jan. 10 In all Teutonic countries the same conflict was waged between the manor and the mark.
3. Used to represent G. Mark as the proper name of certain principalities, esp. the Mark of Brandenburg. † Also repr. It. Marca in the Mark of Ancona. (Cf. march n.3 3.)
1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 65/1 The Town of Cingoli..in the Mark of Ancona. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) III. 514/2 They reckon in the whole Mark [of Brandenburg] 120 towns [etc.]. 1884Harper's Mag. Apr. 690/2 The two Frederics..were to have the Mark.
II. An object indicating a boundary, position, etc.
†4. A pillar, post, stone, fence, etc., placed to indicate the position of a boundary; = landmark n. 1.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 440 Met of corn, and wiȝte of fe, And merke of felde, first fond he. c1320Sir Tristr. 2710 Her fader..Ȝaf hem londes wide..Markes were set bi side. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 77 Saynt Cutberte's clerkes..At Geruans set þer merkes, a hous þe gan vpspede. c1440Promp. Parv. 333/2 Meer, marke be-twene ij. londys, meta, meris. 1535Coverdale Deut. xxvii. 17 Cursed be he, yt remoueth his neghbours mark. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 193 No Fences parted Fields, nor Marks nor Bounds Distinguish'd Acres of litigious Grounds.
†5. A stone or other monument set up or standing as a memorial, or as a guide. Obs.
c1000ælfric Exod. xxiv. 4 Moyses..ᵹetimbrode twelf mearca. c1250Gen. & Ex. 1887 Iacob dalf hire and merke dede, ðat is ȝet sene on ðat stede. 1340–70Alex. & Dind. 1139 Whan graue was þe graie ston þe grime king rydus & alle meven his men fro þe marke euene. 1565Cooper Thesaurus, Cippus, a littell hill or marke called a barrow. 1582N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. ix. 9 b, A certaine marke or Piller, with the King of Portingales Armes, and a Crosse. a1591H. Smith Serm. (1594) 237 Being now recouered to his right way, [he] stands like a marke of knowledge in the turninges..to direct al those that passe by.
fig.1511Colet Serm. Convoc. B v b, Vnto you we loke as vnto markes of our direction.
†6. A standard or banner. Obs.
c1000ælfric Gram. lxiv. (Z.) 71 Victricia tollite signa, nymað þa siᵹefæstan mearca. c1205Lay. 18869 Beornes scullen rusien reosen heoren mærken [c 1275 marke]. Ibid. 19099 Cador þe kene scal beren þas kinges marke.
7. a. A target, butt, or other object set up to be aimed at with a missile or projectile. Hence transf., the thing that is or may be aimed at in shooting or throwing.
c1205Lay. 4229 Heoræ sceaftes weoren strake of his flæsces heo makeden here marce [c 1275 marke]. c1305St. Edm. King 44 in E.E.P. (1862) 88 Hi stode afur & bende here bowes, & here arewes riȝte And as to a merke schote to him. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 160 The sayd arowe is caryed to the marke. 1535Coverdale Lam. iii. 12 He hath bent his bowe, and made me as it were a marck to shute at. 1617Hieron Wks. II. 400 A shooter, who afarre off aymeth at a marke in the midst of a white; hee seeth the white, but not the marke; hee cannot hit the marke, which he seeth not, except hee hit the white, which hee seeth. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 167 Then the hunters all choose their marke, taking pleasure in darting their lances. 1780Cowper Progr. Err. 570 None sends his arrow to the mark in view, Whose hand is feeble, or his aim untrue. 1856‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rur. Sports 508/2 Do not look from the mark to the arrow and back again. 1859Musketry Instr. 23 To fire with accuracy it is necessary the sights should be carefully aligned between the eye and the mark.
†b. The quarry of a hawk, etc. Obs.
1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 157 b, They..are alwaies the fairest marke in a Hawke, or a Bussardes eie. 1589Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 42 The Hobbie catcheth no pray, vnlesse she mount beyonde her marke. 1672Dryden Marr. à la Mode v. i, It vexes me to the heart..to have flown her so often to a mark, and still to be bobbed at retrieve. 1686R. Blome Gentl. Recr., Hawking v. 30 After she hath flowen to mark, she will sit or fly according to her mettle and nature. 1691Dryden K. Arthur iii. ii, Oh, still thou think'st to fly a fool to mark.
c. The object at which a blow or thrust is aimed; spec. in Pugilistic slang, the pit of the stomach, the ‘wind’. Also † Broughton's mark.
1747J. Godfrey Sci. Defence 6 The smaller his [a fencer's] mark is, the harder it is for him to hit. Ibid. 57 Gretting had the nearest Way of going to the Stomach (which is what they [pugilists] call the Mark) of any Man I knew. 1823‘J. Bee’ Dict. Turf, Mark (ring), the pit of the stomach is termed ‘the mark’, and ‘Broughton's mark’. 1851Borrow Lavengro lxxxviii, I happened to hit Tom, of Hopton, in the mark, as he was coming in, so that he lost his wind.
d. fig. or in fig. context. Also slang (see quot. 1897); a soft or easy mark (cf. easy a. 13 b), a person who is easily persuaded or deceived (slang, orig. U.S.); (Austral. slang), a good (or bad) mark (see quot. 1941).
1549Compl. Scot. xv. 123, I am the merk of the but, contrar the quhilk euere man schutis arrous of tribulatione. c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. lv. i, [I am] A mark to wrath, and hate, and wrong assign'd. 1608D. T[uvil] Ess. Pol. & Mor. 114 b, Must needes discouer the marke of his disordinate Ambition. 1742Young Nt. Th. v. 1011 Death loves a shining Mark, a signal Blow. 1753Discov. J. Poulter (ed. 2) 4 At Night the Horses came by, and he shew'd us all one particular Pack, and said that's your Mark. 1842Tennyson Walking to Mail 65 He thought himself A mark for all, and shuddered lest a cry Should break his sleep by night. 1845R. Howitt Impressions Australia Felix 233, I heard it casually from the lips of apparently respectable settlers as they rode on the highway, ‘Such and such a one is a good mark!’—simply a person who pays his men their wages, without delays or drawbacks; a man to whom you may sell anything safely. 1860F. & J. Greenwood Under a Cloud II. xiv. 332 ‘There's a mark!’ exclaimed one to the other, looking towards the spot where Hatcher was standing. 1871Blackie Four Phases i. 10 There was something..that could not fail to make him the mark of general observation. 1871R. Ellis tr. Catullus lxviii. 2 Thy sad tear-scrawl'd letter, a mark to the storm. 1883J. Greenwood Tag, Rag & Co. iii. 24 Publicans..are usually the unfortunate tradesmen fixed on as a mark. 1896Ade Artie xvi. 150 He was the wise guy and I was the soft mark. Ibid. xviii. 173 When that kind of a mark comes in they..get ready to do business. 1897Barrère & Leland, Mark (Swindlers), one marked by thieves or swindlers as easy to dupe or rob. 1904G. H. Lorimer Old Gorgon Graham 288 He was too easy a mark to succeed in Wall Street. 1922Joyce Ulysses 75 Didn't catch me napping that wheeze. The quick touch. Soft mark. 1929‘E. Queen’ Roman Hat Mystery xiii. 187 For a shrewd man, he certainly was an easy-mark for the wiseacres. 1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 46 Mark, good (or bad), a general term of approval (or disapproval) for a person. 1956H. Gold Man who was not with It (1965) i. 6, I floated down..to kick the smaller mark where it would tell on him. 1962J. Ludwig in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories (1968) 2nd Ser. 255 He was repulsive, old, a mark, a fool—his nerve went. 1966‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 93, I was a bit nervous and an easy mark to bamboozle. 1968B. Turner Sex Trap xv. 148 You thought I might like to turn myself into an ugly mark! A square with a loud voice and a shopping-bag! Marriage! 1971Frendz 21 May 11/2 In 90% of all rip-offs the naive mark hands over his capital to some virtual stranger who never returns. 1973E. McGirr Bardel's Murder ii. 31 In the twenties it was the Yanks who was the suckers, but now..it's us who are the marks.
e. In phrases, beside, † besides, far from, near, short of, wide of (or † from) the mark; to hit, miss the mark, to attain or miss some desired object or end.
c1350St. Andrew 290 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 8 In saint Andrew he had swilk trist; And of þat merk nothing he myst. a1352Minot Poems ix. 13 Bot now has sir Dauid missed of his merkes. 1633T. Stafford Pac. Hib. i. v. (1821) 71 Both one and the other were besides the marke. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. ii. iii. §17 Venerable was found out as an Expedient to accommodate the Difference, luckily hitting the Mark, as a Title neither too high nor too low. 1666Pepys Diary 23 Sept., It cannot, I believe, be far wide from the mark. 1749Fielding Tom Jones vi. ix, As when two doves,..or as when Strephon and Phyllis (for that comes nearest to the mark) are retired into some pleasant solitary grove [etc.]. 1845McCulloch Taxation i. iii. (1852) 92 It may, however, be..very wide of the mark when applied to the case of out-of-door labourers. 1889J. Stalker Imago Christi ix. §5 (1891) 178 Many a preacher misses the mark because, though he knows books, he does not know men. 1861G. J. Whyte-Melville Good for Nothing I. 146 Gilbert's efforts to amuse her often fell short of the mark. 1883[see beside B. 5 b]. 1885J. K. Jerome On the Stage 6 Five or six pounds per week would be near the mark.
f. Bowls. The jack. Also, a position which is allowed for the jack; ‘a fair bowling distance’ (see quot. 1753).
1630J. Taylor (Water P.) Wit & Mirth Wks. ii. 193/2 The marke which they ayme at hath sundry names and Epithites, as a Blocke, a Jacke, and a Mistris. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Bowling, Mark is a proper bowling distance, not under so many yards; and being at least a yard and a half from the edge of the green. 1875‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports iii. i. iii. §3. 683 If the leader in two trials shall fail to deliver the jack a mark, his opponent is then entitled to set the mark. 1876Encycl. Brit. IV. 180/2 A game termed carreau..somewhat similar to bowls, the jack or mark being set up on a square stone at the end of an alley. Ibid., ‘Mark’, or ‘set a mark’, means the delivery of the jack at the commencement of a game.
8. A post or other object placed to indicate the terminal point of a race; a goal. Often fig., an object desired or striven for (cf. 7 d).
c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 271 Sir Roberd Roos of Werk with þe Scottis fled, He set so ille his merk, þat neuer eft he ne sped. 1535Coverdale Phil. iii. 14, I forget that which is behynde..& preace vnto y⊇ marck apoynted. 1555Latimer Let. in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1822) III. ii. 305 He that runnythe at the merk doth not loke on other that stands by..but lokyth altogether on the glove or merk, and on them that ronne with him. 1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. ii. viii. (1634) 187 Let this be our perpetual marke, to aide all men faithfully. 1642Rogers Naaman Ep. Ded. 3, I know your Honour hath long made this your marke. 1789Cowper Let. to Mrs. King 1 Aug., The end is in view; I seem almost to have reached the mark. 1850Tennyson In Mem. liii, For fear divine Philosophy Should push beyond her mark, and be Procuress to the Lords of Hell.
9. An object on shore or at sea, which, by its ascertained and known position, serves to guide a traveller proceeding in a given direction, esp. a landmark n., leading-mark (see leading 1 b), sea-mark. Also fig.
[1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxlii. (1495) 699 Ofte knottes ben made on trees and in busshes: in token and marke of the highe waye: to shewe the certen and sure waye to waye farynge men.] 14..Sailing Direct. (Hakl. Soc.) 12 Yif ye go oute of Orwell waynys to the Naisse ye must go south west fro the Nasse to the merkis of the spetis your cours is west south-west. Ibid., Bring your markis to gidre that the parissh steple be owte by est. the abbey of Seint Hosies. 1577Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. iii. in Holinshed, Hulke tower, which is a notable marke for pilots, in directing them which waie to sterne their ships [etc.]. 1598J. Manwood Lawes Forest i. 4 They seeme to vnderstand this word Meta, a marke, for any thing that hath an ascending from the ground vpward in height, that they call a marke, as, a hill, a Church, a Tree, or such like. 1650Hobbes Hum. Nat. v. §1. 44 Men that have past by a Rock at Sea, set up some mark, thereby to remember their former danger, and avoid it. a1676Hale Narr. Customes iii. in S. A. Moore Foreshore (1888) 338 As fixing of piles, or layinge in of anchors without buoyes or markes. 1708Penn in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem. X. 290, I have shewn my regard to him, and a fair mark I gave him to direct his steps. 1781Justamond Priv. Life Lewis XV, II. 120 note, This is a mark, sometimes made by a floating tun, sometimes by a mast raised upon a bank. 1834Nat. Philos. III. Navig. i. iii. 9 (Useful Knowl. Soc.) The marks themselves are called the leading marks.
III. A sign, token, indication.
10. a. An appearance, action, or event that indicates something; a sign, token, symptom.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Mark xvi. 17 ᵹemerca [Vulg. signa] ðonne ða ðaðe ᵹelefdon ða ᵹefylᵹeð. c1200Ormin 17982 & wha sitt iss þatt takeþþ wiþþ Hiss wittness tunnderrfanngenn, He setteþþ merrke off þatt he wiss Iss Godd soþfasst i spæche. a1225Ancr. R. 250 Lokeð nu ȝeorne, uor his deoruwurðe luue, hwuch one merke he leide uppen his icorene, þoa he steih into heouene. a1300Cursor M. 18330 ‘Lauerd’, þai said, al wit a steuen, 'Als þou has sett þi merck in heuen O þi blis lauerd godd [etc.]. c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋819 That hooly ordre is chief of al the tresorie of god, and his especial signe and mark of chastitee. 1599Shakes. Much Ado ii. iii. 255 Shee's a faire Lady, I doe spie some markes of loue in her. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. xiii. 160 They found peeces of blew cloth, and other markes and signes that some men of Europe had passed there. 1669Gale Crt. Gentiles i. Introd. 6 Is it not a great Marque of Honor. 1711Addison Spect. No. 73 ⁋10 She bestows a Mark of her Favour upon every one of them. 1725Watts Logic ii. v. §4 In some Reports there are more Marks of Falshood than of Truth, and in others there are more Marks of Truth than of Falsehood. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. vi. 192 Our people soon observed several lights..in the fort, and other marks of the inhabitants being in great motion. 1842Borrow Bible in Spain lvii, His body..exhibited every mark of strength and vigour. a1862Buckle Civiliz. (1873) III. v. 463 How unusual it is to meet with any one..whose writings bear marks of..original thought. 1884Skeat Gamelyn Introd. 11 The ‘master outlaw’ in the tale of Gamelyn is left unnamed. This is a mark of a somewhat early date.
b. A characteristic property; a distinctive feature, criterion; spec. in Logic (see quot. 1860).
1522More De quat. Noviss. Wks. 73/2 He that by good vse and experyence, hathe in his eye the ryghte marke and very trewe lustre of the Dyamonte. 1561T. Norton tr. Calvin's Inst. i. xv. 53 Neither is their opinion to be approued, which sett the Image of God in the power of dominion geuen vnto him, as if he resembled God onely in this mark, that he is [etc.]. 1612Bacon Ess., Wisd. for Man's Self (Arb.) 184 Therefore let Princes..chuse such seruants, as haue not this marke. a1625Fletcher Noble Gent. iv. iv, Yet from this pitch can I behold my own, (From millions of those men that have no mark). 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 232 By these marks the monkies of either continent, may be readily distinguished from each other. 1860Abp. Thomson Laws Th. §51. 78 Those properties by which we recognise any object, and assign it a place under some appropriate conception, are called marks. 1884tr. Lotze's Logic i. iii. 89 Life without intelligence is a possible mark of an animal, but not intelligence without life. 1885R. L. & F. Stevenson Dynamiter 194, I recognise in you the marks of an accomplished anarch.
c. spec. A depression caused by a fold in the enamel of a horse's incisor tooth, which by its appearance and gradual disappearance gives some indication of the age of the animal. (Cf. counter-mark, n. 3.) Also mark of mouth.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. iv. 886 Their [horses'] myddel teeth aboue at too yeer age They cause, at yeeris iiij another gage;..At vij yeer are alle ylike longe, The markis of their age ar lost at seuen. 1626Bacon Sylva §754 At eight yeares old, the Tooth is smooth, and the Hole gone, And then they say; That the Marke is out of the Horses Mouth. 1680Lond. Gaz. No. 1562/4 A Bright Bay Gelding, near 15 hands high,..the mark out of his mouth. 1707Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 41 We may..say..as the Jockeys do of a Horse of eight or nine Years old, who has no longer certain Teeth in his Mouth; that his Mark is out. 1852R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour xliv, ‘He's past mark of mouth; but I think a hunter's age has very little to do with his worth.’ 1897Encycl. Sport I. 537 (Horse) Mark, the hollow upon the top of a young horse's teeth which wears down with years.
fig. and allusive.1589R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1590) 4 The marke is not out of thy mouth, for thou hast a Colts tooth in thine head still. a1616Beaum. & Fl. Wit without Money iv. v, Biscuit That bawds have rubb'd their gums upon, like corals, To bring the mark again. 1824Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. s.v., Old maidens are said sometimes to have lost the mark o' mouth. 1857G. A. Lawrence Guy Liv. viii. 77 Two ancient virgins, long past ‘mark of mouth’.
†d. A vestige, trace. Obs.
c1325Metr. Hom. 61 Bot of thair not yet standes merk, In Babilony the tour yet stands. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. xxv. 141 In whiche place are the markes of the ruines of Lacedemonia.
11. A sign affixed or impressed for distinction.
a. A device, stamp, seal, label, brand, inscription, written character, or the like, placed upon an article as an indication of ownership or origin, as an attestation of quality, as a means of identification, etc. † In early use often, the stamp or impress of a coin.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 457 He was hirde wittere and wal; Of merke, and kinde, and helde, & ble, sundring and sameni[n]g taȝte he. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 343 Þe merke of þat mone [sc. the lushburg] is good, ac þe metal is fieble. c1394P. Pl. Crede 177 Wyde wyndowes..Schynen wiþ schapen scheldes..Wiþ merkes of marchauntes y-medled bytwene. 1420in E.E. Wills (1882) 46 A tastour of siluer with myn owne merke ymade in þe bottom. c1440Promp. Parv. 334/1 Merke, tokyne, signum, caracter. c1450in Rel. Ant. II. 280 Thay salle be brynte on the hippe, chapmans merke. 1477Rolls of Parlt. VI. 185/1 The merke or signe of every Goldsmyth, shuld be knowen to the Wardeyns of the same craft. 1524Act 14 & 15 Hen. VIII, c. 3. §9 This present act..for limittyng of markes to the maker of worsteds, saies, and stamins. 1567Harman Caveat 33 The markes shalbe pycked out cleane, and [the clothes] conuayed craftely fare of, to sell. 1594T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 543 Hee will appoynt to haue a stone layde vpon his graue, in which his name shall bee ingrauen, & his marke, or some such like thing. 1607Heywood Wom. Kild w. Kindn. Wks. 1874 II. 142 Take with thee every thing that hath thy marke. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 38, I set a marke vpon these peeces, lest I should spend them. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 201 We spent all Tuesday..in getting Marks put upon our Arms, as commonly all Pilgrims do. 1696Phillips (ed. 5), Mark,..Also a particular Character imprinted by Public Authority upon several things, either for the payment of Duties, or to prevent Adulteration. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 207 The Company's Mark upon all their Goods, Bales, and Parcels. 1704Norris Ideal World ii. v. 293 A mark of the artificer impressed upon his work. 1797Directory Sheffield 137 Directory of the Manufacturers, with their marks. 1838Dickens O. Twist ix, I'll show you how to take the marks out of the handkerchiefs. c1850Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.) 640 The robber quickly made a mark on the door with some chalk he had for the purpose. 1885Encycl. Brit. XIX. 186 The first of these [Hall-marks] was the King's mark—a leopard's or lion's head crowned.
b. With prefixed defining n., as age mark, cattle mark, flock mark, gunpowder mark, pedigree mark, pitch mark, raddle mark, sheep mark, wool mark. Also ear-, hall-, trade-mark.
1523Fitzherb. Husb. §52 And se that they [sheep] be well marked, both eare marke, pitche marke, and radel marke. 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 38 A sheepe marke, a tar kettle [etc.]. 1603Owen Pembrokeshire (1892) 56–7 As many as they can finde by the eare marke, for woolle markes is vsed but of few. 1607Cowell Interpr. s.v. Clack, To clack wooll is to cut off the sheepes marke which maketh it to waigh less. 1802James Milit. Dict., Mark..Gunpowder Marks. The different sorts of gunpowder are distinguished by the following marks. 1833H. Martineau Briery Creek ii. 34 What about the cattle-marks? 1886C. Scott Sheep-Farming 147 Sheep Marking—The flock mark, the age mark, and the pedigree mark, are all put on the ears of the stock lambs.
c. A visible sign, as a badge, brand, etc., assumed by or imposed on a person; occas. in pl. † insignia.
† Christ's mark, God's mark, mark of clergy, mark of holy church: the tonsure. mark of the Beast: see Rev. xvi. 2 and beast n. 7.
c1200Vices & Virtues 57 Sume oðre nimeð godes marc on hem, wandeþ here claðes and naht here þeawes. c1205Lay. 29855 Biscopes and clærckes and preostes mid godes mærkes. c1250Gen. & Ex. 1003 Quuo ne bar ðanne is merk [sc. circumcision] him on fro godes folc sulde he be don. a1300Cursor M. 27252 Quar he..clething beres þat feris to clerc, or cron þat es o clergi merc. Ibid. 29283 Qua smites preist or clerk or ani berand cristes merk, als munk, or frer, nun, or chanun,..he is cursd. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 130 Þorgh God I þe forbede to chalange any clerke In lay courte for non nede, of holy kirke has merke. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 4402 Bot with þas þat had Criste forsaken And the merk of anticrist had taken [etc.]. 1382Wyclif Rev. xvi. 2 The carecte or marke of the beast. 1399Langl. Rich. Redeles ii. 78 Me thynketh, That no manere meyntenour shulde merkis bere, Ne haue lordis leuere þe lawe to apeire. 1535Coverdale Gen. iv. 15 And the Lorde put a marck vpon Cain. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 118 b, Neyther maye any others, than suche as have the greate beastes charact, or Balles marke, be permitted to occupie that trade of marchaundyse. 1592Newes fr. Scotld., Life & D. Dr. Fian B, They suspecting that she had beene marked by the Diuell (as commonly witches are)..found the enemies marke to be in her fore crag. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies v. viii. 350 The priest..was decked with the markes of the idoll. 1680True Protest. Intelligence No. 3. 1/2 One of them, as it is said, had the Thieves mark in her hand. 1706tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. 16th C. II. v. 4 He [Catharinus] believes the Marks of St. Francis. 1727–51Chambers Cycl. s.v. Herald, Their persons are under the protection of the law of nations, when they bear the marks of their offices publicly, i.e. the trumpeter his trumpet, and the drummer his drum; as the herald his coat. 1874Gladstone Ritualism in Contemp. Rev. Oct. 672 [The undivided clerical waistcoat] was deemed so distinctly Popish, that it acquired the nickname of ‘The Mark of the Beast’; and..among the tailors..was familiarly known as ‘the M.B. waistcoat’. 1881Sands Sk. Tranent 39 It was believed that Satan put a mark upon all who had enlisted into his service.
†d. God's marks: an appearance betokening impending death. (See god n. 16 c.) Obs.
e. A character made with a pen, usually a cross, used by illiterate persons in place of a signature.
c1020Rule St. Benet (Logeman) lviii. 98 Oððe soðes ᵹif he na can stafas, oðer fram him ᵹebeden write & se nicumena mearce do. 1434in E.E. Wills (1882) 102 And y pray yowe loki thys marke and thys Seell, acorde as y Roger wyl answere afore god. 1588in Arber Marprel. Controv. 82 William × Stanghtons marke. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. ii. 110. 1627 in Barnfield's Poems (Arb.) Introd. 17 Peter Serieantes his × mark. 1766Blackstone Comm. II. xx. 305 Which custom our illiterate vulgar do..keep up; by signing a cross for their mark when unable to write their names. 1851H. Melville Whale xviii. 100 Dost thou sign thy name or make thy mark?
f. A written symbol.
1737J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. iii. 150 (List Councilmen Lond.) This * Mark denotes the New Members. 1862Ansted Channel Isl. ii. ix. (ed. 2) 200 A mark of interrogation (?) [will denote] doubtful species. 1890H. Sweet Prim. Spoken Eng. 2 The stress-marks are put before the element on which the stress begins. Ibid. 3 The tone-marks are put before the word they modify.
g. (a) good mark, bad mark: a written character used by teachers, jailers, etc., in their registers as a symbol of an instance of good or bad conduct respectively; hence fig. a point noted or remembered to a person's credit or discredit. (b) Originally, in schools, a vertical line placed opposite to a pupil's name as a record or a correct answer in class of some other point of merit, his place in the class being determined by the number of ‘marks’ which he obtains. Hence, the unit of the numerical award given by a teacher or examiner to the person whose comparative merit is to be ascertained. Also fig. in phr. full marks used as an expression of considerable praise or commendation; also top marks.
1829Lytton Devereux i. iii, I was one hundred marks before my brother. 1837Orders & Regul. Harvard Univ. 8 The average of the marks given by the members of the [examining] Committee. 1887D. A. Low Machine Draw. (1892) 124 Inking-in,..and shading,..are not required in the examination, and receive no marks. 1891H. Matthews in Law Times XCII. 96/1 A convict who gains by steady industry the maximum number of marks during each day of his sentence. 1893Leland Mem. I. 73 The punishments were bad marks, and for every mark the boy was obliged to go to bed an hour earlier than the others. 1934D. L. Sayers Nine Tailors ii. v. 175 That is well observed. Yes, Bunter, you may have full marks for that. 1941H. Nicolson Let. 27 Mar. (1967) 154 It is a fine show and I give Ronnie Campbell full marks. 1945W. de la Mare Scarecrow 22 ‘Full marks, my dear,’ said Mr. Bolsover, squeezing her hand. 1966Listener 29 Sept. 472/3 Full marks for the deadly opening sentence. 1973Times 2 June 9/4 Full marks as always, to this hard-up, persevering, resourceful and imaginative museum. 1973J. Thomson Death Cap xiii. 177 He gave Holbrook top marks for finding such a delightfully sharp and acid old lady.
†h. In schools, a badge worn by the pupil who had last committed some particular fault. to pass the mark: to get rid of the badge on detecting a schoolfellow in the same fault; also fig. Obs.
1832Miss Mitford Village Ser. v. 198 French was the universal language of the house, and an English mark was passed among the young ladies, transferred from culprit to culprit as they were detected in the fact, and called for three times a day, when the unlucky damsel who happened to be in possession of the badge was amerced in the sum of three⁓pence;..this order of demerit [was] an oval piece of wood, with English, in large capitals engraven on its front, suspended by a riband from the neck. 1849Thackeray Pendennis xxxi, Bacon liked to be treated with rudeness by a gentleman, and used to pass it on to his inferiors as boys pass the mark. c1855Mrs. Gaskell Traits & Stories Huguenots ad fin., I have now told all I know about the Huguenots. I pass the mark to some one else.
i. Her. A small charge added to a coat of arms as a sign of distinction; esp. in mark of cadency.
1625B. Johnson Staple of News iv. iv, Were he a learned Herald, I would tell him He can giue Armes, and markes. 1702[see cadency]. 1718Prior Henry & Emma 49 This lord..Had brought back his paternal coat enlarg'd With a new mark. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VIII. 445 Of all the forementioned marks of distinction, none but the label is affixed on the coats of arms belonging to any of the royal family.
j. Freemasonry. Used attrib. (with reference to sense 11 a) to designate a degree, grade, or rank immediately superior to that of the free and accepted mason (see 23).
12. a. Something (e.g. a line, dot, notch, or an object fixed or attached) intended to record or indicate position.
Plimsoll's mark: a load-line required by the Merchant Shipping Act, 1876 (the bill for which was introduced by S. Plimsoll, M.P. for Derby) to be placed upon the hull of a British vessel to indicate how far she may be loaded.
c1460Towneley Myst. xxiii. 146 Quartus tortor. That was well drawen that that; ffare fall hym that so puld! ffor to haue getten it to the marke, I trow lewde man ne clerk Nothyng better shuld. 1530Palsgr. 529/1 You have dronke to me, but you muste drinke agayne, for you tolde me nat whether you dranke to a marke or els al out. 1635–56Cowley Davideis iv. Note 29 Almost all great changes in the world are used as Marks for separation of Times. 1725J. Bradley in Penny Cycl. (1836) V. 320/1 Adjusted y⊇ mark to the Plumb Line and then y⊇ Index stood at 8. Ibid., By this observation y⊇ mark is about 3{pp} 3/4 too much south, but adjusting y⊇ mark and plumbline I found y⊇ Index at 8½. 1807Hutton Course Math. II. 59 Having set up marks at the corners, which is to be done in all cases where there are not marks naturally; measure [etc.]. 1870M. Bridgman Rob. Lynne I. xiii. 216 She slips the letter in her novel for a mark. 1881Daily Tel. 28 Jan., I see Plimsoll's mark there—pretty high up, isn't it, skipper? 1903Daily Chron. 8 Jan. 5/2 The floods..call attention to the little interest that is taken by local authorities as regards erecting flood-marks.
b. Naut. A measured notification on a hand lead-line, indicated by a piece of white, blue, or red bunting, a piece of leather or a knot.
marks and deeps: the method of indicating the depths on the hand lead-line, the marks being indicated fathoms and the deeps estimated fathoms between the marks (Smyth Sailor's Word-Bk. 1867).
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v. Sounding, If the mark of 5 fathoms is close to the surface of the water he calls ‘By the mark five!’ c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 43 Suppose you had five fathoms of water, what soundings would you call? By the mark five.
c. fig., esp. in certain phrases, as to be above, beneath, near, under, up to, within the mark: to be above (etc.) a fixed or recognized standard. Also with prefixed figure representing a limit or total, or an approximation of this.
1765Foote Commissary iii. (1782) 75 He is rather under your mark, I am afraid; not above twenty at most. 1821Jefferson Autobiog. Writ. 1892 I. 15 He feared that Mr. Nicholas, whose mind was not yet up to the mark of the times, would undertake the answer. 1822Cobbett Weekly Reg. 2 Feb. 286 If prices fall a great deal lower than their present mark. 1842Borrow Bible in Spain xliii. (Pelh. Libr.) 298, I..have a horse that will just suit him; one that is..eight inches above the mark. 1845McCulloch Taxation ii. vi. (1852) 270 It is, if anything, rather below than above the mark. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 336/2 Say half a million turned over in a year, Sir,..and you're within the mark. [1860Thackeray Round. Papers vi, in Cornh. Mag. Aug. 256 The Cornhill Magazine..having sold nearly a hundred thousand copies, he (the correspondent) ‘should think forty thousand was now about the mark’.] 1861Goschen For. Exch. 14 The indebtedness under the present hypothesis is not excessive but under the mark. 1861F. W. Robinson No Church I. 309 He made the sum come pretty near the mark—just a five pound note out. 1878Geo. Eliot Coll. Breakf. P. 629 A vanity Which finds the universe beneath its mark. 1887Rider Haggard Jess viii, John..guessed that he could not weigh less than seventeen stone, and he was well within the mark at that. 1888W. E. Norris Rogue ix, There wouldn't be much excuse for me if I weren't up to the mark. 1890Stockton in Century Mag. Feb. 543/1 The story don't step up to the mark. 1929Star 21 Aug. 18/2 Dennis Brothers' 1s. shares can usually be regarded as a reasonable purchase under the {pstlg}3 mark. 1946R.A.F. Jrnl. May 170 The membership already exceeds the twenty-five hundred mark. 1948D. Ballantyne Cunninghams iii. 15 Around the forty mark. 1965N. Paul Cine-Photogr. ii. 19 There is a tremendous range of models on the market today, especially in the 8 mm. gauge, where they can..soar up to the {pstlg}300 mark. 1973Times 14 Apr. (Nepal Suppl.) p. ii/9 If the present trend continues, the 25 million mark may be reached before the end of the century.
d. Rugby Football. The heel-mark on the ground, made by a player who has obtained a ‘fair catch’. Also Austral. Rules Football (see quots. 1968). Cf. mark v. 15 d.
1867Rugby School Football Laws 2 A Fair Catch is a catch from a kick, or a knock on from the hand..of the opposite side, or a throw on, when the catcher makes a mark with his heel. 1896Field 1 Feb. 172/2 A mark by a Devon man gained much relief. Ibid. 173/1 A goal had also been kicked by Finlay from a mark. Ibid. 8 Feb. 207/1 Hughes made his mark without success. 1965Sun-Herald (Sydney) 4 July 51 Geelong Rover, Terry Farman, won a trophy for the best mark taken by his team. 1967Ibid. 16 Apr. 67 Ryan's first kick struck the back of the Collingwood man on the mark, but Perkins ruled he had moved back over the mark. 1968Eagleson & McKie Terminol. Austral. Nat. Football ii. 22 Mark,..the catching of the ball on the full directly from the kick of another player. Ibid. 23 Mark,..the spot at which a player caught the ball (‘took a mark’), and behind or over which he must make his kick. 1969Sun-Herald (Sydney) 13 July 48/1 Close took a beautiful one-handed mark, his tenth for the game,..but kicked only a point.
e. Athletics. A line drawn to indicate the starting-point. Also in phrases (lit. and fig.), as on your mark(s), (get set, go), the instructions given to competitors at the start of a race; to be first off the mark: to gain an initial lead over one's opponents; to be quick off (or on) the mark: to lose no time in starting, to waste no initial advantage; to be slow off the mark: to start slowly or sluggishly; to waste time in starting; to get (or be) off the mark: to start (well); to overstep the mark: to infringe the rules by placing one's foot over or beyond the mark; so fig., to go beyond a fixed limit or standard, to ‘go too far’; cf. the phr. overshoot the mark (overshoot v. 2 b, and mark n.1 7 a, e); to toe the mark (see toe v. 2).
1887M. Shearman Athletics & Football 65 It requires, however, much skill and practice not to ‘take off’ before the mark [in jumping]. Ibid. 198 Nothing was said until the men got upon their marks. 1905Pearson's Mag. Sept. 290/2 He..beat his field by a yard or two off the mark. 1912E. H. Ryle Athletics 91 This method..assists a runner to keep steady on the mark while awaiting the report of the pistol. 1917E. Pound Let. 12 Aug. (1971) 114, I have been a bit slow getting the Little Review off the mark. 1919E. P. Oppenheim Strange Case J. Thew i. xiii. 112 ‘Did he make any trouble?’ ‘He had no chance..I was first off the mark.’ 1921Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 24 Mar. 13/3 It was felt that the Parent-Teachers' Associations were in some cases overstepping the mark in regard to requests. 1928Observer 5 Feb. 23/5 When you really wish to get going you have a second, a third and a top speed change which will get the car off the mark, in the old phrase, in an inspiriting manner. 1929F. N. Hart Hide in Dark i. 25 All set? On your mark! 1930L. W. Olds Track Athletics iv. 26 On Your Marks... Get Set... Go or Gun. 1931Oxford Mail 29 Aug. 8/3 G. Fisher and L. Rogers were quickly off the mark, 20 runs being scored in the first ten minutes. 1934Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves i. 9 Get off the mark..like a scalded cat, and your public is at a loss. 1938R. Warner Professor x. 227 Now he appeared like a person who fears that he has in some way overstepped the mark, has involuntarily wounded another's feelings, or alluded to some subject that were better left unmentioned. 1943Endeavour Apr. 74/2 The dog-breeder and poultry farmer were comparatively quick off the mark in using the new therapy. 1946B. Marshall George Brown's Schooldays v. 22 On your marks, go. The thing was to lob them [sc. rissoles] out like fives pills. 1947‘G. Orwell’ Eng. People 24 With all their political ignorance the English people will often show surprising sensitiveness when some small incident seems to show that ‘They’ are overstepping the mark. 1954G. Mitchell On your Marks xv. 172 ‘On your marks,’ said the starter. The swimmers were poised and ready. ‘Go!’ 1958J. Wain Contenders v. 102 Ned was off the mark at once... Blue Seal Pottery seemed to become a vogue overnight. 1970Marlow & Watts Track Athletics ii. 18 It is recommended that the shoulders should be forward when the athlete settles into the blocks on the command ‘On your marks’. 1971Morning Star 19 Oct. 2 The Institute of Teachers and the Association of Science Teachers were quick off the mark, followed by the more orthodox national trust. 1972R. Adams Watership Down xxvii. 208 The pursuit was a bit slow off the mark..because poor old Bugloss wasn't there to give the orders. 1972W. A. Pantin Oxf. Life iv. 50 Dr. William Buckland..was very quick on the mark with putting in plans for the future use of the building. 1973South Wales Echo 30 June (Suppl.) 1/2 Then the whole Burke Special team can get off their mark. 1973Guardian 8 Oct. 10/2 Beatrix Potter..wrote about Tommy Brock (the badger) and Mr. Todd (the fox) living on terms of toleration—until Tommy badly overstepped the mark.
13. a. A visible trace or impression diversifying a surface, whether produced by nature, accident, or design, as a line, dot, written character, spot, stain, discolouration, scar, or the like. Also with prefixed n., as birth-mark, bullet-mark, file-mark.
c1325Metr. Hom. 57 Thar his throt was scorn wit knif, A red merk was al his lyf. 1388Wyclif Lev. xix. 28 Nether ȝe schulen make to ȝou ony fyguris, ether markis in ȝoure fleisch. 1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iv. xxxvi. 84 The honoure of suche persones ben many markes of woundes. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xiv. 19 Sic losin sarkis, so mony glengoir markis Within this land was nevir hard nor sene. 1530Palsgr. 699/1 It was scaulded whan I was yonge, but I shall beare the marke so longe as I lyve. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. i. ii. 82, I haue some markes of yours vpon my pate: Some of my Mistris markes vpon my shoulders. 1593― Lucr. 538 For markes discried in mens natiuitie, Are natures faultes, not their owne infamie. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage vii. x. (1614) 702 Their blacke skinnes, white eyes, and cauterised markes seeme to conspire a dreadfull and gastly deformitie in their faces. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 9 The Arms of the Great Masters, who have been wounded in Action, are to be seen there, with marks upon them. 1805Ring in Med. Jrnl. XIV. 405 The marks he bore, were deemed a sufficient security against..the small-pox. 1828Fleming Hist. Brit. Anim. 96 Some feathers have a dark mark in the middle. 1831Ann. Reg., Chron. 112 The mark of a bunch of currants on his breast, with which the boy was born. 1849Dickens Dav. Copp. xx, She has borne the mark ever since, as you see;..and she'll bear it to her grave. 1858O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. (1883) 86 A bullet-mark on his right cheek. 1868Darwin Anim. & Pl. II. xiii. 42 A Spanish mule with strong zebra-like marks on its legs. 1879S. C. Bartlett Egypt to Pal. x. 220 The long marks of ancient cutting-tools were still seen overhead and around. 1888Hasluck Model Engin. Handybk. (1900) 131 File-marks running in straight parallel lines.
b. to leave, make a mark: to leave or make a permanent, important, or obvious impression. to make one's mark: to attain distinction.
a1847T. Chalmers in Bartlett Dict. Amer. (1860) 262 Men..called out to make and leave their mark upon the world. 1854Harper's Mag. Sept. 561/2 There was a time when Jacob made his mark upon the stock-brokers and money-changers of that monetary locality. 1857Buckle Civiliz. I. xiii. 707 The movement was now becoming sufficiently active to leave its marks on the writings of far inferior men. 1867O. W. Holmes Guard. Angel II. v. 95 Not one promised to make such a mark in society if she found an opening. 1868M. E. Braddon Dead Sea Fr. ii. ix. 211 Those little verses..have made their mark. 1893F. F. Moore I Forbid Banns (1899) 7 It may safely be predicted that they will make their mark in the world. 1898Daily News 11 Jan. 6/7 Politicians who have left their mark upon the first sixty years of New Zealand's existence. 1905L. Strachey Characters & Commentaries (1933) i. iv. 34 Whether he himself [sc. Walpole] might not have made his mark in politics is perhaps a futile speculation. 1921R. Macaulay Dangerous Ages xi. 208 Why dream wistfully of doing one's bit, making one's mark, in a world already as full of bits..as a kaleidoscope? 1927C. Bell Landmarks 19th Cent. Painting 147 They have not failed to leave a mark on history. 1952A. J. Cronin Adventures in Two Worlds i. 15 In medicine, or some other field, I believe that you will make your mark. 1973Observer (Colour Suppl.) 5 Aug. 18/2 Woolton.. making his mark as Civilian Boot and Shoe Controller in World War I. 1974Radio Times 3 Jan. 49/4 Pop music has produced many trendsetters—we pick three who've made their mark in the 70s.
c. Hunting. Applied spec. to the footprints of certain animals. (Cf. march n.3 9.)
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Marks, the Footing of an Otter. 1727–51Chambers Cycl. (s.v. Hunting).
d. Cards. (See quot.)
1876Capt. Crawley Card Players' Man. (Quadrille) 196 Mark means the fish put down by the dealer.
e. Telecommunications. Each of a succession of marks on paper whose relative duration and separation are used to convey information in telegraphy; hence, any kind of signal that conveys information by its presence or absence (rather than by its magnitude). Opp. space: hence mark–space attrib.
1837Amer. Jrnl. Sci. & Arts XXXIII. 187 [Describing Morse's telegraph.] To read the marks; count the points at the bottom of each line. 1859T. P. Shaffner Telegr. Manual xxxiv. 469 The length of the mark or of the space upon the ribbon paper will be precisely the same as the length of the contact made with the key. 1891C. L. Buckingham in C. F. Brackett et al. Electr. in Daily Life 143 In 1846 Bain proposed to employ perforated strips of paper to effect automatic transmission in connection with an electro-chemical process for recording, in which marks upon a moving band of paper are made by discoloration attending the passage through it of signalling currents. 1938Admiralty Handbk. Wireless Telegr. II. K. 59 When the key is pressed, the valve oscillates and we have the mark period. Ibid., During mark, the oscillating circuit constitutes the load. 1953Electronics July 183/2 Mark–Space Phototubes. As the perforated tape passes through the keying head, pulses of light from the exciter lamps pass through the holes and alternately strike the tone-on (mark) and tone-off (space) phototubes. The phototubes conduct and produce alternate pulses of current. 1958P. E. K. Donaldson et al. Electronic Apparatus for Biol. Res. xv. 234 The circuit performs oscillations with a mark–space ratio of approximately unity, the waveforms having the form of Figure 15.14. 1969J. J. Sparkes Transistor Switching iii. 52 A circuit capable of producing rectangular waves with very sharp rising and falling edges, at mark–space ratios of between 1:1 and 500:1,..is shown. 1972Sci. Amer. Dec. 16/3 The computer's input element is a photoelectric paper-tape reader that handles 1,000 ‘marks’ (punched holes) per second.
†14. Sc. A stone or cluster of stones of larger size, placed at intervals in a jewelled chain. Obs.
1573Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 247 Ane chayn of rubeis with twelf markes of dyamontis and rubeis, and ane mark with twa rubeis.
15. That which is signified by a mark.
†a. Those who bear a particular mark or stamp (fig.); a person's race, sect, etc. Obs.
c1386Chaucer Wife's Prol. 696 They [wommen] wolde han writen of men moore wikkednesse Than all the mark of Adam may redresse. 1542–5Brinklow Lament. 11 Not the Bisshope of Rome alone, but he and all his marke with hym. 1555in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) III. App. xliv. 124 The Magistrates and Gentlemen may have like cause against them [Popish clergy], and al the Company of that Mark, which..was Cause of their Perjury.
b. A particular ‘brand’, make, quality, or size of an article. Also, freq. followed by a numeral, a designation of the stage of development in design and construction of a manufactured product or piece of equipment, as a weapon, an aeroplane, etc. Abbrev. Mk. Also transf. and fig. Mark I: first class (slang).
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xii. 68 In regard of the several differences of the length and marks, or Diameter of her Base and Muzzle-ring, no certain proportion can be generally assigned. 1758Monthly Rev. 204 The prices of Grinding..and Diamond-cutting the several Marks or Sizes [of plate-glass]. 1888Treat. Mil. Small Arms & Ammunition 52 Enfield Revolver Pistol, Mark II. 1899Kynoch Jrnl. Oct.–Nov. 12/1 Despite the unfortunate failures at Edinburgh and Bisley of the bullet known as Mark iv. 1904Speaker 11 June 240/2 The same mark varies so much from year to year that no one would dare to purchase without examining a sample bale [of wool]. 1914Times Bk. Navy vii. 99 The gun has progressed through successive stages, or ‘marks’ as they are technically known. Marks 3, 4, 5, and 5w were ‘built’ guns. 1916T. E. Lawrence Let. 22 Dec. (1938) 214 Will you please wire for 4 locks complete for Gun Maxim Converted Mark II to be sent to Yenbo? 1926L. Nason Chevrons 120 This is going to be a real, old issue, Mark I scrap. 1942W. S. Churchill in Second World War (1951) IV. 768 There should be no difficulty in sparing 1,000 tanks and 1,000 anti-tank and A.A. guns. No doubt older marks might form the bulk. 1946R.A.F. Jrnl. May 180 No fewer than 26 different ‘Marks’ were built and put into service... In accordance with Service custom they merited and received the bestowal of a special Mark number. 1948‘N. Shute’ No Highway i. 7 The Mark I model [sc. an aeroplane] which went into production first had radial engines. 1959Listener 19 Mar. 514/1, I trust the Ministry of Supply is making sure that all senior naval, military, and air force officers are supplied with Mark II* crystal balls. 1973P. Johnson in Johnson & Gale Highland Jaunt i. i. 13 Time's winged chariot is hurrying near, powered by the latest mark of internal combustion engine. 1973J. Wainwright Devil you Don't 5 It was a great car—a Jag Mark II. 1974Economist 21 Dec. 29/3 They are calling him [sc. Helmut Schmidt] Kissinger Mark II. 1975J. Symons Three Pipe Problem xv. 129 For his white clients Riverboat often played the role of American Negro, Mark One.
c. vulgar. (One's) ‘style of thing’, what will suit one's needs or tastes.
1760Foote Minor ii. (1767) 53 Hark'e, knight, did I not tell you, old Moll was your mark. Here she hath brought you a pretty piece of man's meat already. 1887Henley Culture in Slums iii, My mark's a tidy little feed, And 'Enery Irving's gallery.
†16. A flock or ‘game’ of swans marked with the same identifying brand. Also swan-mark. Obs.
1482Rolls of Parlt. VI. 224 Markes and Games of Swannes, in divers Countres. 1489Will of N. Hardy, Unum marke de signis. 1500Will of R. Tyllisworth, All that my marke and game of Swannys swymmyng within the Kinges ryver of the Thamyse. 1550Will of L. Bawdrey, lx8. the price of a swan marke.
†17. ? A bundle or packet of definite size. Obs.
1583Rates Custom Ho. E iij b, Sheres for Sempsters the mark contayning two dosen.
18. (God) bless (or save) the mark (or † sample): an exclamatory phrase, prob. originally serving as a formula to avert an evil omen (cf. quot. 1833) and hence used by way of apology when something horrible, disgusting, indecent or profane has been mentioned. In mod. literary use (after some of the examples in Shakes.), an expression of impatient scorn appended to a quoted expression or to a statement of fact.[It has been affirmed (see W. A. Henderson in N. & Q. 8th ser. VII. 373) that the phrase was used by midwives at the birth of a child bearing a ‘mark’. This may possibly be its original use: cf. quot. a 1625 below. The meaning of ‘mark’ in the expression may, however, have been ‘sign’ or ‘omen’ (see 11). There is no foundation for the statement copied in recent Dicts. from Dr. Brewer, that the phrase was originally used by archers.] 1591Shakes. Two Gent. iv. iv. 21 Hee had not bin there (blesse the marke) a pissing while, but all the chamber smelt him. 1592― Rom. & Jul. iii. ii. 53 (Qo. 2, 1599), I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes, God saue the marke, here on [Qo. 1, 1597 the sample, on] his manly brest. 1593Churchyard Challenge 240 Browne and blacke I was, God blesse the marke: Who cals me faire dooth scarce know Cheese from chalke. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. iii. 56 (Qo. 1, 1598) To see him..talke so like a waiting-gentlewoman, Of guns, and drums, and wounds..God saue the mark. 1604― Oth. i. i. 33 (Qo. 1, 1622) He in good time, must his Leiutenant be, And I, God blesse the marke, his Worships Ancient. a1625Fletcher Noble Gent. iv. iv, Indeed he was just such another coxcomb as your husband, God blesse the mark, and every good mans childe. 1761Sterne Tr. Shandy III. xxxiii, My father..had no more nose, my dear, saving the mark, than there is upon the back of my hand. 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk., Sleepy Hollow (1865) 440 The motherly tea-pot sending up its cloud of vapor from the midst—Heaven bless the mark! 1824Carlyle in Froude Life (1882) I. 261 The best of my talents (bless the mark) shut up even from my own poor view. 1833Dublin Penny Jrnl. II. 23/2 ‘An' they say’, remarked a third, ‘that if a body swears in the wrong wid that [the garvarry] about his neck, his face'll be turned to the back of his head, God bless the mark!’ 1849James Woodman ii, God save the mark, that I should give the name of king to one of his kindred. 1902W. James Var. Relig. Exper. 204 note, The crisis of apathetic melancholy..from which he emerged by the reading of Marmontel's Memoirs (Heaven save the mark!) and Wordsworth's poetry.
19. A die or stamp for impressing a manufacturer's mark on goods. (Cf. mark-maker in 23.)
IV. Remark, notice (= senses of note n.).
†20. Attention, notice. Obs.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xvii. 103 And may vch man se and gode merke take, Who is bihynde and who bifore, and who ben on hors. c1440York Myst. viii. 68 Of shippe-craft can I right noght, Of ther makyng haue I no merke. 1600Holland Livy vii. xxxiv. 273 All this went hee to espie..clad in a common souldiours jacket..; to the end, that the enemies might not take marke of the Generall himselfe. 1671Sir C. Lyttelton in Hatton Corr. (Camden) 70 One marke they take of it is employing Sr George Downing embassador thither. 1823Scott Peveril ix, Little matter worthy of mark occurred.
21. of mark; noteworthy, important, conspicuous. Chiefly following a n.; rarely pred. Also of great, little, etc. mark.
Cf. F. homme de marque (Cotgr.). The etymological allusion is probably to the mark placed on goods to indicate quality (see sense 11).
1590Nashe Pasquil's Apol. i. Wks. (Grosart) I. 220 The wisedome of the land..compared our Nobilitie and men of marke, to the flowers that stand about the Princes Crowne. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 45 A fellow of no marke, nor likelyhood. 1600Holland Livy xxvi. xxxiii. 609 They were of greater marke and calling than the rest. a1614D. Dyke Myst. Self-deceiving (ed. 8) 355 They grieue at those good works of others, if of any marke, wherein they haue had no hand themselues. 1622S. Ward Christ All in All (1627) 8 This whole Vniverse,..and all the things of mark and vse in it,..but for him should not have been. 1647May Hist. Parl. Pref. 4 Sufferings of..so high a mark. 1791Burke App. Whigs Wks. VI. 200 These are the notions which..several persons, and among them persons of no mean mark, have associated themselves to propagate. 1860Longfellow Wayside Inn, K. Olaf ix. ii, A learned clerk, A man of mark. 1861Thackeray Four Georges i, A rascal of more than ordinary mark. 1879McCarthy Own Times II. xxix. 399 He still held a place of great mark in literature. 1885Mag. Art Sept. 450/1 Granada was a place of little mark as compared with Cordova.
22. (dial. and slang.) a mark on (something): one with an astonishing appetite for. a mark at, a good hand at.
1881Punch 3 Dec. 263/2 Till my chummy Scholard Mike, who's a mark at A.B.C., Read me Littler's little tale. 1883M. E. Braddon Gold. Calf xxv. 274 Vernon was what Rogers the butler called ‘a mark on’ strawberries and cream. 1895Downe Ballads 31 (E.D.D.) A mark on swearin? Ah, sir, that he be.
V.
23. attrib. and Comb.: (sense 11 g) mark-sheet, mark system; † mark-arrow, an arrow used only for target practice; mark-boat, a boat moored at a particular spot as a seamark; mark-book, a book for recording conduct marks; † mark-feast, a school feast provided at the end of the half-year from the scholars' fines for holding the mark (sense 11 h); mark-getter, a student who obtains marks; mark-lodge, a lodge of mark masons; mark-maker, a maker of stamp marks; mark man, mark mason, mark master (mason), a freemason holding a certain rank in mark masonry; mark masonry (see 11 j); † mark-mear, a boundary; marks paper, a paper for recording students' or other merit marks; † mark's point, the bull's-eye of a target (fig.); mark sensing, the process by which a machine ‘senses’ or reads data in the form of electrically conducting marks made by hand on cards with a lead pencil; so mark-sense(d a., marked in this way and for this purpose; † mark-shot, the distance between the butts in archery; mark tooth, the tooth of a horse containing the mark (cf. 11 e); mark-vessel, = mark-boat; † mark-white, the bull's-eye of a target (fig.).
1527Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc. 1854) 31, I will that the said Percyvall..have..the half of my *marke aroys.
1879Daily News 7 Apr. 3/2 They paddled below the *mark⁓boats, and drifted up with the tide. 1894Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 36/1 We were still fully two miles from the mark-boat.
1900Westm. Gaz. 28 June 2/1 My *mark-book with its blank column for disorder-marks against her name was a striking contrast to those of the other mistresses.
1832Miss Mitford Village Ser. v. 200 Readily would the whole company have foregone all the luxuries of the *mark-feast.
c1860W. Cory Lett. & Jrnls. (1897) 571 A good ‘examination boy’, or *mark-getter. 1869Edin. Rev. Oct. 554 The highest mark-getters generally turn out well.
1898*Mark lodge [see mark master].
1797Directory Sheffield 56 Cartwright, George, *mark-maker, and penknife cutler. 1883Kelly's Sheffield Directory 194 Ashmore, Cornelius, mark maker and letter cutter.
1853Oliver Dict. Symbol. Masonry s.v. Mason Marks, Those brethren who have been initiated into the degrees of *Mark-Man and *Mark-Master.
Ibid., *Mark Masons. The degree of Mark-Master Mason may be considered as appendant to that of Fellow Craft, although entirely distinct..from it.
1862Builder 1 Nov. 784/3 Gunn, who had cut out the cup, was a good mark-mason... Referring to *mark-masonry, Mr. Gowans said [etc.].
1898Daily News 25 Oct. 2/1 There was a distinguished gathering of Mark Master Masons at Windsor yesterday, when the Grand Mark Master of England, the Prince of Wales, having issued a warrant for a new *Mark Lodge to be established at Windsor, the consecration took place at the Masonic Hall.
1582Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 28 Thow seest large Affrick, thee Moores, and Towne of Agenor, Thee Libye land *marckmears.
1880Plain Hints Needlework 13 This should always have a special column in the *marks-paper.
1553Kennedy Compend. Tract. in Wodrow Soc. Misc. (1844) 102 In the understanding of this consistis the heale purpose, and *markis poynt quhilk we schute at.
1965Math. in Biol. & Med. (Med. Res. Council) i. 10 They used ‘*mark-sense’ cards for the details of the investigation and for the results of calculations. 1971Computers & Humanities VI. 16 A newer approach employs mark-sense cards upon which musical symbols have been printed. This allows the person doing the encoding to accomplish it in a single step, quietly, and without the need for cumbersome equipment.
1964T. W. McRae Impact of Computers on Accounting i. 14 Figure 1.8 illustrates a *mark sensed card. The mark sensed positions are in columns 70–78 and the holes punched from these..are in columns 31–33.
1959E. M. Grabbe et al. Handbk. Automation, Computation, & Control II. v. 19 *Mark sensing uses special electrical conducting marks placed in various positions on punched cards. 1970O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing iii. 55 Information can also be recorded in a card with a pencil, and in a subsequent operation, ‘mark sensing’, the markings are translated to punched holes in the cards.
1961Oxf. Local Exam. (Latin, Paper 1) p. 3 The total mark..is to be halved before it is entered on the *marksheet. 1964Oxf. Mag. 12 Mar. 254/1 Now that the dust has settled on the marksheets of the January Part II examination.
1375Barbour Bruce xii. 33 Schir Henry of Bowme..Com on a steid, a *merk-schot neir Befor all othir that thair wer. c1450Merlin 287 Thei were putte bakke the space of a mark shote.
1885Encycl. Brit. XIX. 754/2 He devised an ingenious system of recording the convicts' daily industry by marks... The *mark system had already been tried with good results in Ireland.
1626Bacon Sylva §754 At foure yeares old there commeth the *Mark-Tooth,..at eight yeares old, the Tooth is smooth,..and then they say; That the Marke is out of the Horses Mouth.
1884World 20 Aug. 22/2 The Royal London Yacht Club had..a *mark-vessel off Lymington.
1596Spenser F.Q. v. v. 35 At the *marke-white of his hart she roved.
Add:[II.] [8.] b. spec. in Athletics, a time, distance, etc., achieved by an athlete, esp. one which represents a record or personal best; hence, an official record. Also in other competitive sports. orig. U.S.
1900N.Y. Times 5 Oct. 8/4 (heading) New York Athletic Club sprinter also lowers the time for 300 and 400 yard marks. 1906Ibid. 31 May 8/6 The new figures made by Gilbert are over an inch and one half better than the previous mark. 1915Globe (Toronto) 13 Nov. 11/6 George Goulding gave the two-mile walk record a severe jolt, lowering it from 13.39, his own mark, to 13.27 1-5. 1932Scholastic Coach Mar. 7/2 He had to relinquish the laurels to Lundquist of Sweden, who then in trials attained the best mark of his life. 1967N.Y. Times 11 Feb. 36/3 Sjoeberg..broke the mark on the opening day of the international ski-jumping week. 1974Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer 27 Oct. 1-C/4 The victory was the third straight for Cleveland, which concluded its first six games..with a 3-3 mark. 1986Swimming Times Sept. 25/1 The England/Wales squad of 21 swimmers achieved 17 World marks, and brought home 22 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze medals.
[9.] b. Hence, a fishing ground located by means of prominences on shore or sea-marks.
[1921F. D. Holcombe Mod. Sea Angling 7 The good sea fisherman should be able..to do everything for himself;..manage his own boat, put her on to the marks.] 1965E. J. F. Wood in A. Wrangler Newnes Compl. Guide Sea Angling 81/2 Most angling clubs have a log or chart displayed in the club room. These show the recognised local fishing marks, and almost invariably these marks are pinpointed by lining up a series of various conspicuous objects. 1971Country Life 18 Feb. 347/3, I mentioned the changes reported by some of the fishermen along the coast, the poverty of some of the hitherto good fishing marks, the absence of fish in places in which they had once been plentiful. 1976Eastern Daily Press (Norwich) 19 Nov. 21/5 Stronger tides this week-end should improve prospects for cod, especially if the weather permits boats to fish the deeper marks well offshore. 1990Angler's Mail 28 July 17/2 When you're casting over rocky, weedy marks.
[III.] [11.] [c.] Phr. mark of Cain, the sign placed on Cain after the murder of Abel, in the original version denoting divine protection (see Gen. iv. 15 and Cain n.2 1 a), but now commonly used fig. to mean a token of infamy.
1878Hardy Return of Native I. i. ix. 173 Reddle..stamps unmistakably, as with the mark of Cain, any person who has handled it half-an-hour. 1925Blackw. Mag. Dec. 786/1 He saw himself objectly as a felon with the mark of Cain. 1987‘E. Anthony’ No Enemy but Time 107 Tweedy, lipsticked matrons, with ‘sporting type’ branded on their foreheads like the mark of Cain. 1995Guardian 3 Mar. (Friday Suppl.) 6/1 The Artist wears brown sunglasses. Underneath them is his personal Mark of Cain, the word Slave scrawled, rather tastefully, in black across one cheek.
k. Horse-racing. In full handicap mark. The official assessment of a horse's form, expressed as a figure between 0 and 140, and used as the basis for calculating the weight the horse has to carry in a race. Freq. in on or off a (specified) mark.
1978Flint & North Why You lose at Racing xii. 121 An initial handicap mark of, say 45, does not mean that this horse retains that mark throughout the season. 1985J. Adams Sprint Handicapping Explained ii. 14 Horses with a 4 lbs difference in their rating..will each be listed on the same mark if they happen to come within the same 5 lbs group. 1994Times 30 Sept. ll. 35/2 James Fanshawe's progressive filly is running off a handicap mark 16 lb lower than when beaten..at Ascot last Friday.
[c indigo][12.] f.[/c] Phr. on the mark (Racing slang), likely to win or succeed; in with a chance.
1890Daily News 10 Dec. 3/7 Backers were also well on the mark in standing Alfred for the Park selling Hurdle. 1987Evening Tel. (Grimsby) 13 Nov. 19 The trainer, on the mark with Deep South..saddles Tickite Boo in the..Gold Cap. 1992Sporting Life 9 Oct. 10/1 John Gosden's good run has slowed down somewhat but he can still be on the mark with Correspondence.
▸ mark of suspension n. Palaeogr. a written character used to indicate that a word has been contracted (cf. suspension n. 2d).
1912W. H. Stevenson in Eng. Hist. Rev. 27 12 The copyist..appends his mark of suspension to words that he could not fully read. 1958L. C. Hector Handwriting Eng. Documents iii. 32 The letter..which in practice most often carried this mark of suspension was the so-called ‘Arabic-2’ small r. 1995Speculum 70 519 The abbreviation marks comprise the Old English and sign and the marks of suspension of final e, m, æt in þæt, and æþ in cwæþ.
▪ II. mark, n.2|mɑːk|
Forms: 1–5 (also from Fr. 8–9) marc; 4–7 marke, 5 marcke, 5–6 Sc. merke, 5–9 Sc. merk, 3– mark.
[Found in all the Teut. and Rom. langs.; Late OE. marc neut. (9th c.), OFris. merk fem., MDu. marc fem., neut., masc. (Du. mark neut.), MHG. mark, marke fem. (mod.G. mark fem.), ON. mǫrk fem. (Sw., Da. mark); med.L. marca (? 9th century), marcus (12th c.), F. marc masc. (11th c.), Pr. marc masc., Sp., Pg., It. marco masc., It. marca fem.
The form of the OE. word (with a not ‘broken’ before rc) shows that it is not a native word; some scholars have supposed it to be from ON., but the gender perhaps points rather to popular Latin as the source. The proximate origin appears to be Romanic; whether the word is ultimately Teutonic (connected with mark n.1) is doubtful.]
1. A denomination of weight formerly employed (chiefly for gold and silver) throughout western Europe; its actual weight varied considerably, but it was usually regarded as equivalent to 8 ounces (= either 2/3 or ½ of a pound, according to the meaning given to the latter term).
a. As an English or Scottish weight, or without reference to locality. Obs. exc. Hist.
886ælfred & Guthrum's Peace §2 Ealle we lætað efen dyrne Engliscne & Deniscne, to viii. healfmearcum [v.r. marcum] asodenes goldes. c1205Lay. 22392 Ȝet ich wulle mære..ælche ȝere of mine londe seouen þusand punde [thee send] & senden heom to þine londe & sixti mark of golde. c1400Destr. Troy 11724 To the grekes bus vs gyffe, to graunt vs for pes, Twenty thowsaund thristy, þrungyn togedur, Markes full mighty, all of mayn gold. 1438in E. E. Wills (1882) 111 Euery cuppe weynge a mark & a half of Troye. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 189 b/1 He departed emonge them a marcke of golde. 1505Ld. Treas. Acc. Scot. (1900) II. 244 Quhilk weyit lv mark, and ilk mark contenand viij unce of gold. 1530Palsgr. 243/1 Marke of golde or silver, marc. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 735 A hundreth Markes of siluer made in Plate, whereof euery Marke is .viii. ounces sterlyng.
b. Used to represent its etymological equivalent in various continental langs., as the name of a foreign weight.
1731Gentl. Mag. I. 112 Fine silver at 24 [Dutch] Guilders 2 Stivers Banco per Mark fine. 1811P. Kelly Univ. Cambist I. 96, 480 Marks Cologne weight = 451 Ounces English Troy. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 11/1 In silver and copper mining the marc (8 ounces) is commonly used to express the richness of the metal [in Chile].
†c. In the Orkneys: see quot. 1859. Obs.
1576in Oppress. Orkney & Zetland (Abbotsf. Cl.) 41 Lykwyiss the merk of copper of auld was sauld for twa schillingis of wairis, and now thai tak four schillingis thairfor. 1859Ibid. Gloss. 127 Mark,..a weight = 8 ounces or 1/24 of a Lispund or Setteen, gradually raised to 20 ounces.
2. A money of account, originally representing the value of a mark weight of pure silver.
a. In England, after the Conquest, the ratio of 20 sterling pennies to an ounce was the basis of computation; hence the value of the mark became fixed at 160 pence = 13s. 4d. or 2/3 of the {pstlg} sterling. Obs. exc. Hist.
In legal use (in stating the amount of a fine) as late as 1770. Sir Roger de Coverley's use of the mode of reckoning by marks (quot. 1712) is prob. intended as an example of an old-fashioned habit of speech.
c1050O.E. Chron. an. 1040 (MS. C), Swiðe strang ᵹyld, þ̶ man hit uneaðe acom, þ̶ wæs viii marc æt ha. a1200Moral Ode 296 Ȝut hi bud a wurse stede on þere helle grunde ne sculle hi neure comen vp for marke ne for punde. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8084 He..borewede þer uppe of him an hondred þousend marc. c1386Chaucer Pard. T. 62 By this gaude have I wonne, yeer by yeer, An hundred mark sith I was Pardoner. a1400Octouian 889 That wyf hym taught markes and poundes; He purueyde haukes and houndys. c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1224, Vj marc yeerly, to scars is to sustene The charges þat I haue. 1526Skelton Magnyf. 1121 In my purse was twenty marke. a1529― Col. Cloute 729 His benefyce worthe ten pounde, Or skante worth twenty marke. 1542Recorde Gr. Artes (1575) 198 Poundes, Markes, and shillings, whiche though they haue no coynes, yet is there no name more in vse than they. 1607Norden Surv. Dial. iv. 173 Thirteene shillings and foure pence, or a Marke of money. 1652Plymouth Col. Rec. (1855) III. 12 Leiftenant Samuell Nash..is to haue for his wages 20 marke p. annum. 1712Addison Spect. No. 269 ⁋5, I..have deposited with him thirty Marks, to be distributed among his poor Parishioners. 1771Gentl. Mag. XLI. 82 On the 28th of November 1770, the defendant was brought up for judgment... The judgment of the Court was, to pay ten marks (i.e. 6l. 13s. 4d.) to the King.
b. In Scotland, the value of the mark was lowered proportionately with that of the shilling and penny, so that it represented 13s. 4d. Scots, reckoned as = 131/3d. English. † mark mark like Sc. [after MDu. mark markgelike]: mark for mark, in the same proportion.
1480Acta Dom. Concil. (1839) 72/2 Þat the saides Macolme & Arthure sall pay in like proporcioune of þe said annuel, efferand to þe part of þe land þat ather of þaim has, mark mark lyke, comptand be þe ald extent. 1482Bond in Thanes Cawdor (Spalding Cl.) 66 Fyw hundreth merkis of the usualle money of Scotlande. 1639Drummond of Hawthornden Consid. to Parlt. Wks. (1711) 187 Under the pain of ten merks. 1710Agreement in Family of Rose of Kilravock (Spalding Cl.) 401 Ane contract of wodseate..seting and resing the tenents at tuo thusand merk per chalder of free rent. 1858M. Porteous Souter Johnny, To Burns 33 'Twill cost some fowks twal hunner merk, Or aiblins near.
c. Representing the various continental forms of the same word, as a name of foreign moneys of account. mark banco (Hamburg): see banco. mark Lubish, mark Lubs: see Lubish a.
1475Bk. Noblesse (Roxb.) 32 Lifelode of londes and tenementis yoven in the counte of Mayne to the yerely valeu of .x.Ml. marcs yerely, whiche was .lx.Ml.li. Turneis. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xiv. 14 The kyng..dyd gyue hym cccc. markis. Ibid., The kyng..dyd gyue to Philip of Chastaulxe, his chef esquyer,..C. marke of rent yerely. 1753Hanway Trav. (1762) II. i. iii. 17 They [Hamburg traders] keep their accounts in marks and schillings, sixteen schillings to a mark. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 289/2 The first reform in the coinage of the German Empire occurred in 1871, when the new gold money was introduced, which had for its unit the silver mark (a money of account) of 100 pfennigs.
3. Shetland. A denomination of land, from the feu duty formerly paid to the superior.
1774G. Gifford in G. Low Orkney (1879) 145 The term Pennyland..in Schetland..marks the quality, and according to the value of the land, every Mark contains more or fewer Pennies. 1793Statist. Acc. Scotl. V. 195 note, In some instances, a merk may be less than an acre; in others, perhaps, equal to two acres. 1884Scotsman 26 July 3/1 (Shetland Advt.) Three Merks, One Ure and One-Third of an Ure of Land.
4. As the name of a coin. (Never so used with reference to English coinage.)
a. In Scotland, a coin of the value of 13s. 4d. Scots (see 2 b). half-mark: a coin of the value of 6s. 8d. Scots. Obs. exc. Hist.
1480Acta Dom. Concil. (1839) 74/1, v marcis scotis for ilk pund grete. 1570–1Reg. Privy Council Scotl. XIV. 89 Ane silver penny to have course and passage for xiijs. iiijd. of this realme, to be callit the merk peice, and the half of the same for vjs. viiid., to be callit the halff merk peice.
b. Used to represent its etymological equivalents in various foreign languages, as the name of various copper and silver coins current at various times on the Continent, esp. a silver coin of the German Empire first issued in 1875, containing 77·16 grains troy, and worth slightly less than the English shilling. Now the name of the unit of German currency.
1727–52Chambers Cycl. s.v., Mark is a copper-coin in Sweden, equal to two-pence farthing sterling. 1839Penny Cycl. XV. 324/2 Mark, a silver coin in Hamburg... The mark is worth 1s. 23/4d. 1883Encycl. Brit. XVI. 732 note, The substitution of the mark for the older thaler came into force [in Germany] 1st January 1875. 1911E. Sykes Banking & Currency (ed. 3) viii. 61 The Imperial Bank of Germany can issue notes to the value of 550,000,000 marks against the deposit of securities. 1932J. W. Angell Recovery of Germany (rev. ed.) ii. 19 Mark prices fell... In..1921..two things happened which definitely sealed the fate of the old mark currency. Ibid. 21 Everyone who was unfortunate enough to possess mark currency was in danger of having it lose half its value in his pocket overnight. Ibid. 56 The mark notes, bank deposits, and securities became practically worthless. 1933E. Roll Spotlight on Germany i. 39 The function of the mark as a medium of exchange had disappeared almost as completely as its ability to form a standard of value. Ibid. 41 The mark was finally stabilized at one million-millionth of its pre-war value. 1964M. McLuhan Understanding Media (1967) ii. xiv. 156 The depreciation of the citizen went along with that of the German mark.
†5. attrib.: mark pound, weight (see quots.).
1576–77Reg. Privy Council Scotl. II. 601 Deduceing onelie for his panis sex schillingis for the merk wecht. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Mark-weight, a foreign weight commonly of 8 Ounces; and Mark-Pound is two such Marks, or 16 Ounces. 1902D. Macleane Coronation 123 [The oblation of] A ‘Purse of Gold’ was, until Victoria, ‘a Mark weight of gold’—i.e. 8 ounces troy.
▪ III. mark, v.|mɑːk|
Forms: 1 (mærcian, mearcian, Northumb. merciᵹa), 2 merki, markian, 3 mærcen, 3–5 merke, 3–7 marke, 4 merkke, 4–6 merk, 5 marc, mirk, mork, 6 merck, 6–7 marck(e, 4– mark.
[OE. mearcian = OFris. merkia, OS. markon, gimarkon to destine, appoint, observe, remark (MDu. marken, merken to set a mark on, to observe, Du. merken to set a mark on), OHG. marchôn to limit, plan out, destine (mod.G. as new-formation marken to set a mark in, stamp), ON. marka to draw the outline of, put a mark on, observe:—OTeut. *markôjan, f. *markâ mark n.1 A parallel formation from the n. (OTeut. *markjôn) appears in OHG., MHG. merchen, merken (mod.G. merken), ON. merkja (Sw. märka, Da. merke). The Rom. langs. have a corresponding formation from the adopted n.: F. marquer (which is the source of some of the uses of the Eng. vb.), Pr., Sp., Pg. marcar, It. marcare.]
I. To put a mark upon.
1. trans. To trace out boundaries for; to plot out (ground); to set out the ground plan of (a building); fig. to plan out, design.
a. simply. (Now only fig. in poetic use.)
c888K. ælfred Boeth. xxxix. §6 ælc cræfteᵹa ðencð & mearcað his weorc on his mode ær ær he hit wyrce. c1000ælfric Deut. i. 33 Se mearcode þa stowa þe [Vulg. metatus est locum, in quo] ᵹe eowre ᵹeteld on slean sceoldon. a1225St. Marher. 20 Þu wisest wruhte of alle, markedest eorðe, þu stores mon of sea stream, þu wissent ant weldent of alle wihtes. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 2500 In an harde rochi stede is þuong aboute he drow & þer wiþinne al to is wille Markede place inou & rerde þer an castel. c1384Chaucer H. Fame iii. 13 If..thou Wilt helpe me to schewe now That in myn hede y-marked is [etc.]. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. vi. 222 To note and marke the mine, and so much ground in circuite for him, which the Lawe graunts..those that discover any mine. 1747P. Francis Hor. Sat. i. i. 140 Some certain mean in all things may be found, To mark our virtues, and our vices bound. 1844[see idea n. 2].
b. with out.
1611Bible Isa. xliv. 13 The carpenter stretcheth out his rule:..he marketh it out with the compasse, and maketh it after the figure of a man. 1769Goldsm. Hist. Rome (1786) I. 411 This extraordinary man [J. Cæsar]..had, from the beginning of his life, marked out a way to universal empire. 1842Borrow Bible in Spain xxx. (Pelh. Libr.) 218 To ascend the mountain, where, no doubt, he has been marking out a camp. 1879Browning Martin Relph 78 And all that time stood Rosamund Page..Bandaged about, on the turf marked out for the party's firing-place. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right v. 52 The Major and I..are on our way to mark out that very claim.
†c. poet. in alliterative phrases: To fashion, frame. Obs.
c1400Destr. Troy 4286 For hom wit lacket Of þe Godhed giffen, þat grew from the sun, Þat all mightyle made & merket of noght. 14..Siege Jerus. 112 Þe þridde in heuen myd hem is þe holy goste, Neþer merked ne made bot mene fram hem passyþ. c1420Sir Amadace (Camden) lvii, The fayrist knyȝte, That euyr ȝette I see with syȝte, Sethen I was market mon. c1460Towneley Myst. xix. 3 God, that mayde both more and les,..And merkyd man to his lyknes.
†d. To fix the position of; to set or place (in a particular situation). Obs.
13..E. E. Allit. P. A. 142 By-ȝonde þe broke..I hope[de] þat mote merked wore. Ibid. B. 637 Messez of mylke he merkkez bytwene.
2. a. To make a mark or marks on (anything) as by drawing, stamping, impressing, applying, cutting, or the like.
a1035Laws of Canute ii. c. 32 (Schmid) Gif þeowman æt þam ordale ful weorðe, mearcie man hine æt þam forman cyrre. c1175Lamb. Hom. 87 God het Moyses.. þet heo sculden..merki mid þan blode hore duren. a1300Cursor M. 21698 To tuelue men taght þai wandes tuelue, Ilkan merked his him-self. c1420Pallad. on Husb. ii. 401 Nowe is tyme..The lambis and the beestis more & lesse To marke. 1466Sir J. Paston in P. Lett. II. 293 Ther is on potte that is morkyn ondre the bottome ij tymes with thyes letteris M.P. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 431 b/1 He was marked or tokened on the lyppes of hym with an hote and brennyng yron. c1490― Rule St. Benet (E.E.T.S.) 136 Yf that he can not write & marke it with his owne sygne. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §52 Se that they [the sheep] be well marked. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 80 b, The byshoppes ministers are wont to marke mens foreheades with Asshes. 1611Shakes. Cymb. iii. iii. 56 My bodie's mark'd With Roman Swords. 1682True Protest. Mercury No. 105. 2/2 He stole a Silver Tankard, marked I. F. 1712–13Swift Jrnl. to Stella 22 Feb., Miss is recovering [from the small-pox]. I know not how much she will be marked. 1844Halliwell Octavian (Percy Soc.) Pref. 11 In the Cambridge manuscript, now marked Ff. ii. 38, his name is spelt Octavyan. 1868Dickens Uncomm. Trav. xvii, The Guard comes clambering round to mark the tickets.
absol.14..Debate Carpenter's Tools in Halliw. Nugæ Poet. 15 ‘Ȝe, ȝe’, seyd the lyne and the chalke..‘I schall merke upone the wode And kepe his mesures trew and gode’. Mod. This pencil won't mark.
b. spec. † (a) To embroider (obs.); (b) To place an identifying mark on linen or other household furniture by means of embroidery or stitching, or with marking-ink.
c1400Emare 386 She tawghte hem to sewe and marke all maner of sylkyn werke. 1530Palsgr. 633/1 All my thynges be marked with this marke. 1704Lond. Gaz. No. 3981/4 Handkerchiefs, marked with W. 1713Rules Lambeth Girls' Sch. v. in N. & Q. (1902) 9th Ser. X. 256/2 They are to be taught to Read, Write, Spin, Knit and Sew and Mark. 1888J. Payn Myst. Mirbridge xvii. II. 17 We are marking the house linen. 1890Sarah Tytler Jean Keir 42 She marked their handkerchiefs.
c. Comm. To attach to (an article) figures or signs indicating the price. to mark down: to label (goods) with a lower figure; to reduce the indicated price of (anything); hence marked-down ppl. adj., also ellipt. as n.; cf. mark-down n.; to mark up: to label (goods) with a higher price; to raise in price.
1859N.Y. Herald 5 Jan. (Advt.), Mark every article Way Way Way down To some price which will make it..Sell and go quick. 1870Amer. Naturalist III. 3 The prices of venison and other game was so far ‘marked up’ that gold..was charged for salmon. 1894Daily Tel. 16 Jan. 5/7 All seaborne qualities [of coal] were marked down 3s. per ton. 1896Howells Impressions & Exp. 53 She was dressed in a..ready-made suit, which somehow suggested itself as having been ‘marked down’. Mod. Advt. All goods are marked in plain figures. 1902G. H. Lorimer Lett. Merchant iv. 52 The clerks all knocked off their regular work and started in to mark up prices. 1908Sat. Even. Post 24 Oct. 13/1 At another store there is a marked-down sale of parasols. 1910‘Saki’ Reginald in Russia 43 They have turned instead to the muddy lanes and cheap villas and the marked-down ills of life. 1913F. H. Burnett T. Tembarom vi. 67 A remnant of crimson stuff secured from a miscellaneous heap at a marked-down sale at a department store. 1923E. O'Neill Moon of Caribbees 18 Don't you boys forget to mark down cigarettes or tobacco or fruit, remember! Three shillin's is the price. 1942M. Schlauch Gift of Tongues (1943) vi. 135 ‘Marked-downs’ (overheard in a department store for ‘reduced dresses’). 1962E. Godfrey Retail Selling & Organization xvi. 164 A minority of firms..have abandoned them [sc. fixed profit margins] in favour of marking-up each item on its merits. 1965A. Christie At Bertram's Hotel xii. 113 She also availed herself of some marked down lines in furnishing fabrics. 1974Times 22 Oct. 12/6 Exclusive goods can be marked up to carry a full, and I suspect..very high, profit margin.
d. pass. To have or bear natural marks. Also fig.
c1400Destr. Troy 5477 His kyngdom was clene clustrit with hilles, All merkyd with mounteyns, & with mayn hylles. 1600Maydes Metamorph. v. i. 127 Is not this hard luck to wander so long, And in the end to finde his wife markt wrong. [She has been transformed into a man.] 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 150 The better Brood, unlike the Bastard Crew, Are mark'd with Royal Streaks of shining Hue. 1855W. S. Dallas in Syst. Nat. Hist. I. 387 The species of the genus Argynnis..are elegantly marked with silvery spots.
e. to mark off (Engin. and Shipbuilding): to mark (an object) with lines to serve as a guide for subsequent cutting, machining, alignment, etc.; to represent (a dimension or detail) on an object in this way.
1894W. J. Lineham Text-bk. Mech. Engin. vi. 185 If the work is too large to mark-off on a table it should be levelled, and all lines be drawn by reference to an ideal horizontal or vertical plane. 1895J. Donaldson Drawing & Rough Sketching for Marine Engineers (ed. 6) 87 When the forging of a crank shaft, or other part of an engine, is delivered..it is essential..that it be accurately marked off for machining. Ibid., The throw of the vertical crank is marked off from the horizontal line. 1925F. J. Drover Marine Engin. Repairs xix. 120 The cheeks are marked off for thickness. 1966J. H. Dixon tr. Dormidontov's Shipbuilding Technol. i. 15 Hull details are marked off from the full-size or scaled down lofting data and from working drawings. Ibid. vi. 127 When the metal is being marked off, the outlines of the components are drawn full size, with an indication of the allowances and tolerances for machining.
f. To mark the ears of (a lamb, or less commonly a calf); also, to dock and geld. Cf. marking vbl. n. 1 c. Austral. and N.Z.
1933Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 4 Nov. 15/7 Mark, to ear-mark. Now a frequent euphemism for cut and tail. 1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 46 Mark,..to geld lambs. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Sept. 197/1 Lambs are usually marked at between 1 to 6 weeks of age; 3 weeks is probably the ideal age.
3. To form or portray by making marks.
1390Gower Conf. III. 123 The nynthe Signe..Is cleped Sagittarius, The whos figure is marked thus, A Monstre with a bowe on honde. c1391Chaucer Astrol. i. §12 Next the forseide Cercle of the Abc., under the cros-lyne, is marked the scale. a1400–50Alexander 2636 He cled him all in clene stele a conyschaunce ouire, Þat made was & merkid on þe messedone armes. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 201 They'll have this to be the Figure of St. Jerome, which God was pleased should be marked upon that Stone, because of the great love he had for that place.
†4. Used to render L. signāre ‘to seal’. Obs.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxvii. 66 Signantes lapidem, mercande ðone stan. 1382Wyclif John iii. 33 He that hath takun his witnessing, hath markid that God is sothfast.
†5. To make with the hand (the sign of the cross); to make the sign of the cross upon (one's breast, etc.), to ‘cross’ (oneself). Also, to invest (a person) with the sign of the cross in token of his joining a crusade. Obs.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 127 Vppon heom alswa we er seiden we sculen markian þet tacne of þere halie rode. 1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 7848 Þe bedde, ne hym, ne durst þey touche, So had he marked hym with þe crouche. a1330Otuel 891 Þei markeden hem alle þre, To him þat þolede deþ on tre. c1440Alph. Tales 80 Þan þis holie man sayd vnto hym; ‘Bruther, Cros & mark þi harte! what is þat att þou spekis vnto þi selfe?’ 1460J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 155 Herry [III] was merkyd with the tokne of the Holy Crosse, for to go to Jerusalem. c1550Battle of Otterburn xliv. in Child Ballads III. 297 Euery man thynke on hys trewe-love, And marke hym to the Trenite. 1577in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 49 First of all he did mark himself unto God.
6. fig.
a. To designate as if by placing a mark upon; to destine. Const. for, † to, down, to and inf. † Also with complement, to designate as being (so and so). (Obs.)
a1000Cædmon's Gen. 459 (Gr.) Þa him to ᵹingran self metod mancynnes mearcode selfa. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 253, I was markid withoute mercy & myn name entrid In þe legende of lif longe er I were. c1400Destr. Troy 12136 My maydynhed I merk to myghtifull goddis. c1440York Myst. xvii. 257 Hayll! þou marc us þi men and make vs in mynde. 1566Clough in Burgon Life Gresham (1839) II. 168 Some that were his friends bade hym gett hym awaye for that he was markyd: wheruppon he went home, and went to his bed. 1590Marlowe Edw. II, iii. ii, A boy..Thou art not markt to manie daies on earth. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. i. 41 These signes haue markt me extraordinarie. 1599― Hen. V, iv. iii. 20 If we are markt to die, we are enow To doe our Countrey losse. 1638Quarles Hieroglyph. i. 46 Ere he had life, estated in his Vrne, And markt for death. 1750Gray Elegy Epit. 4 Melancholy mark'd him for her own. 1856Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. iii. 265 The persons whom he named..became marked at once for persecution. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xviii. 154 The high ground..which William's keen eye would at the first glance mark as the site of the future castle. 1892Kipling Barrack-room Ballads, Cleared vi, They never marked a man for death..They only said ‘intimidate’. 1894‘R. Andom’ We Three & Troddles xxii. 210 The demon dyspepsia had marked him down.
b. with out.
c1400York Myst. xxx. 519 And þerfore, to go with yone gest, Yhe marke vs out of þe manliest men. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 20 That lucky Youth is certainly mark'd out for a Commission. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) III. 345 The law will not pass him over, and marks him out, in rei exemplum et infamiam. 1853Lytton My Novel iii. xxiv, Suspected persons were naturally marked out by Mr. Stirn, and reported to his employer. 1862Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. xviii. 338 The little mantle..had from his earliest years marked him out as an almost royal personage. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xviii. 241 The men of Durham, who had been marked out for the slaughter. 1893Traill Social Eng. Introd. 48 The country..which had been marked out by destiny to become the greatest manufacturer in the world.
†c. To mete out, allot, apportion. (Chiefly in alliteration with meed.) Const. dat. Obs. poet.
1340–70Alisaunder 284 Hee..swore swiftliche his othe..too merken hem care. Ibid. 497 With menne of Mesopotame to mark þe teene. c1375Cursor M. 272 (Fairf.) Mirþ he merkis mon to mede. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xii. 186 Wo was hym marked that wade mote with the lewed! c1400Rule St. Benet 66/678 He til vs merkes slik mede. c1460Towneley Myst. xx. 630 He shall no more hym godys son call. We shall marke hym truly his mede. c1470Gol. & Gaw. 807 Yone berne in the battale wil ye noght forbere, For al the mobil on the mold, merkit to meid.
d. To separate from something else as by drawing a boundary line or imposing a distinctive mark. Now chiefly with off. Also with out from.
1703Rowe Ulyss. iv. i. 1532 This Night..Mark'd from the rest of the Revolving Year, And set apart. 1792C. Smith Desmond I. 63 Amiable people of rank..who are no longer marked by their titles from that canaille with which [etc.]. 1869H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 264 The Popular Tale is thus marked off by features of its own from ordinary stories. 1871G. Meredith H. Richmond lvi, I know that this possession of hers [her courage], which identifies her and marks her from the rest of us, would bear the ordeal of fire. 1877tr. Tiele's Hist. Relig. 16 He marks off the Semites from them very decidedly. 1888Mrs. H. Ward R. Elsmere I. viii. 222 The even gentleness which always marked her out from others. Ibid. III. xxxii. 34 The reasoning faculty..which marks us out from the animal. 1905T. E. Harvey Rise of Quakers ii. 10 Her son's serious ways, by which he was marked out from his other brothers and sisters.
7. To express or indicate by marks or signs.
a. † To indicate in writing, note. Obs. Also, to indicate or represent by symbolic marks.
a1000Phœnix 333 Weras..mearciað on marm-stane hwonne se dæᵹ and seo tid dryhtum ᵹeeawe frætwe flyht-hwates. a1225Ancr. R. 42 Þeo ureisuns þet ich nabbe bute imerked beoð iwriten oueral. c1374Chaucer Boeth. ii. met. vii. 47 (Camb. MS.) What is now brutus or stierne catoun? The thynne fame yit lastinge of hir ydel names is marked with a fewe letterys. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 387 Þai wer not constrenyd be nede for to begge; as grete clerkis merken vp-on þis worde of þe gospelle where criste saiþ þus: ‘When þu makist þine feeste, þat is’, of almes, ‘calle pore, feble, lame & blynde’. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 41 Wherfore in þis book I schal marke as I may how and in what ȝeres such defautes fille. a1794Gibbon Autobiog. (1896) 257 After marking the date..the manuscript was deposited in my bureau. 1879Perowne in Expositor IX. 411 He draws the chart and marks the sunken reefs. 1890H. Sweet Prim. Spoken Eng. 3 If a word has two strong stresses..both must be marked.
b. In games: To record (the points gained by the players). Chiefly absol. and in phr. to mark the game.
1816Singer Playing Cards 239 If he cannot answer him by shewing the third of them, he who asks the question marks five points. 1861G. J. Whyte-Melville Good for N. I. 154 John Gordon good-naturedly proposed a [billiard] match with the young lady, if Miss Jones would come and ‘mark’. 1870‘Cavendish’ Game of Bézique 21 Eleven counters are required by each player—one large round one that marks 500 [etc.]. 1886Euchre: how to play it 108 Marking the Game, counting.
c. colloq. to mark up: to add (an item) to a tavern score; hence, to give credit for; = chalk v. 3 b.
1899Tit-Bits 22 July 322/1, I shaved a gentleman who asked me to mark it up.
d. absol. Of a horse: To indicate its age by ‘mark of mouth’.
1842C. W. Johnson Farmer's Encycl. s.v., A horse..is said to mark when he shows his age by a black spot..which appears at about five and a half years old, in the cavities of the corner-teeth, and is gone when he is eight years old.
e. Of a graduated instrument: To show, ‘register’ (so many degrees, etc.).
1882Floyer Unexpl. Baluchistan 179 The barometer marked 27·265, being about 3,540 feet.
f. to mark down: to make a note of; to set down in writing; to mark up, to correct or annotate (copy or proofs) for typesetting, printing, etc., esp. by making copy-preparation or proof-reading marks; also, to gloss.
1881J. Fothergill Kith & Kin II. ix. 241 More than one matron then present had silently marked him down..in her book of ‘eligibles’. 1936Discovery May 145/1 An exhaustive search was not feasible, but 51 nightingales were marked down in Devon. 1973A. Davis Graphics iii. 74 When he is marking-up an article for a publication of established format, its title, followed by the words ‘Usual style’, may give all the guidance the printer needs. 1973S. Jennet Making of Books (ed. 5) v. 92 Hard copy may be read as a proof by the printer's reader.., and marked up in the usual way. 1978Hart's Rules for Compositors & Readers (ed. 38) 34 The marks should also be used by copy-editors in marking up copy. 1984N.Y. Times 14 Feb. c13/3 Miss Whitelaw marks up her copy of a Beckett manuscript with brief, sometimes cryptic remarks.
g. In phr. to mark (someone's) card [card n.2 6 e]: (from the practice in horse-racing) to provide (someone) with information; to tip (someone) off; to ‘put (someone) right’. slang.
1961Partridge Dict. Slang Suppl. 1179/2 Mark (someone's) card, to give him the information he needs; to put him right: barrow-boys': since ca. 1945. Ex the race⁓course. 1962R. Cook Crust on its Uppers ii. 34 They'd marked my card there was a new dance-hall been opened over at Peckham. 1970P. Laurie Scotland Yard 291 Mark X's cards, to, to brief X discreetly. 1970G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard 282 The third was to phone the insurance assessor and mark his card.
8. In immaterial sense:
a. To make perceptible or recognizable, by some sign or indication.
b. To manifest, ‘testify’ (one's approval, displeasure, etc.) by some significant act, or by reward or punishment. (Now only with obj. qualified by possessive.) † Also, with clause as obj.: To indicate by action.
a.1904Grove's Dict. Mus. I. 18/1 The famous instrumentalists of the classical school..were accustomed to mark the natural accent..by a hardly perceptible prolongation of the first note of the bar.
b.1791Duchess of York II. 91 The King continued to mark the same degree of favor to him as ever. 1807C. Simeon in Carus Mem. & Life (1847) ix. 227 Unless God, by a special interposition of his Providence,..mark his own will respecting it. 1808Scott Marm. vi. xxvii, Eustace..A look and sign to Clara cast, To mark he would return. 1863Mrs. Gaskell Sylvia's L. xliii, She dusted a chair..for Sylvia, sitting down herself on a three-legged stool to mark her sense of the difference in their conditions.
9. To be a mark of or upon.
a. To be an indication of the position or course of.
1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 265 Pillars..are put there to mark the way, because it is a Desart. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 486 The Sov'reign of the Heav'ns has set on high The Moon, to mark the Changes of the Sky. 1762Falconer Shipwreck (1796) I. 164 Eternal powers! What ruins from afar Mark the fell track of desolating war. 1770? Logan Cuckoo ii, Hast thou a star to guide thy path Or mark the rolling year? 1823F. Clissold Ascent Mt. Blanc 23 A circle of thin haze..marked dimly the limits between heaven and earth. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxvii. 209 A withered pine on the opposite mountain marking the other terminus. 1868M. Arnold Sch. & Univ. Cont. 154 Wolf's coming to Halle in 1783..marks an era [etc.]. 1869H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey I. 36 The Bunarbashi river, which is marked at first by the plantation at its source, and afterwards by the green marshes which fringe its sides. 1878Browning La Saisiaz 17 Where the blue lake's wrinkle marks the river's inrush pale.
b. pass. Of lines, features, etc.: To be (more or less) strikingly noticeable. Chiefly with adverbs. (Cf. marked ppl. a.)
1824Macaulay Mitford's Hist. Greece Misc. Writ. 1860 I. 156 The line of demarcation between good and bad men is so faintly marked as often to elude the most careful investigation. 1850J. Leitch tr. C. O. Müller's Anc. Art §204 (ed. 2) 193 The wrinkles about the eyes and mouth [are] strongly marked. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. x. 280 The junction between it and its neighbours is plainly marked.
c. To be a distinguishing mark or character of (a person, etc.); to be a noteworthy feature or attendant circumstance of (an action, incident). Often pass., to be characterized, distinguished, or made remarkable (now only const. by).
a1661Fuller Worthies (1662) i. Essex 334 They being mark'd alike in their poeticall parts [etc.]. 1791Boswell Johnson an. 1744 His [Savage's] character was marked by profligacy, insolence, and ingratitude. 1863F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia (N.Y. ed.) 246 To-day..my visit to the Infirmary was marked by an event which has not occurred before—the death of one of the poor slaves while I was there. 1863Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. x. 253 No triumph—no exultation..marks her manner. 1874Green Short Hist. ii. §1. 62 The long internal tranquillity which marked the rule of our foreign masters. 1878Maclear Celts ii. (1879) 20 Solemn ceremonies marked the gathering of the plant.
d. To diversify, be a landmark upon.
1830Tennyson Mariana 43 For leagues no other tree did mark The level waste, the rounding gray.
10. Mil.
a. To indicate the pivots, formations, etc. in military evolutions.
1796Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813) 160 Its adjutant and those of the regiments standing to its left..will mark each his own left, the adjutants of the regiments to its right..will mark each its own right [etc.]. 1889Infantry Drill 88 If the horses are unsteady, they [the officers] must dismount and mark the points on foot. Ibid. 186 The assistant adjutants-general of the base division will mark the point of appui, and assistant adjutants-general will mark the distant points for their respective divisions.
b. to mark time: to move the feet as in marching but without advancing. Also transf. and fig.
1833Regul. Instr. Cavalry i. 17 On the word Mark Time, the foot then advancing completes its pace, after which the cadence is continued, without gaining any ground. 1837Macaulay Ess., Bacon (ed. Montague) II. 200 The human mind accordingly, instead of marching, merely marked time. 1903F. W. H. Myers Hum. Personality II. 296 The Agnostic's appeal to us to halt and mark time.
II. To direct one's course or aim.
†11. To direct (one's way). Also refl. and intr., to proceed, advance. Obs.
c1205Lay. 5642 Þa cnihtes weoren wise..and heom markede forð, touward Munt-giu heo ferden. Ibid. 26309 Forð þa eorles wenden..and mærcoden enne wæi þe ouer anne munte læi. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xvi. (Magdalena) 784 Scho til wildirnes has socht,..& yddir ewinely can hyr mark. a1400Morte Arth. 3595 Nowe bownes the bolde kynge with [his] beste knyghtes,..Merkes ouer the mowntaynes fulle mervaylous wayes. 14..Henryson's Twa Myss 195 in Bannatyne MS. (1881) 965 Quhen scho was furth and fre, scho..mirrely mirkit vnto the mvre. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxi. 20 Oft thow hes refusit Till cum ws till, or ȝit till merk ws neir. 1513Douglas æneis Exclamacioun 1 Now throw the deip fast to the port I mark. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. x. 406 The Quene hard this ansuer, quhilk quhen scho hard, she markes to Dunbar.
†12.
a. To aim a blow or missile at; to strike, hit.
13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1592 Þe mon merkkez hym wel, as þay mette fyrst,..Hit hym vp to þe hult. 1399Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 268 Rewlers of rewmes..Were not yffoundid..To leue al at likynge..But to laboure on þe lawe..And to merke meyntenourz with maces. a1400Morte Arth. 2206 He merkes thurghe the maylez the myddes in sondyre. a1400Pistill of Susan 320 He [an Angel] haþ brandist his brond brennynde so briȝt. To Marke þi middel at a Mase in more þen in þre, No lese. c1400Destr. Troy 7327 He merkit hym in mydward the mydell in two, Þat he felle to þe flat erthe. c1402Lydg. Compl. Bl. Knt. 462 Who that is an archer, and ys blend, Marketh nothing, but sheteth as he wend. 1513Douglas æneis xii. v. 132 Of quham this dart hit ane..at the myddill markyt hym full rycht. 1529Rastell Pastyme (1811) 172 One marked hym with a quarell and smote hym in the hede.
b. intr. To aim a blow. Const. to. Also Sc. to aim, intend to do something. Obs.
a1400Sir Perc. 2067 By then hys swerde owt he get, Strykes the geant withowttene lett, Merkes evene to his nekk. c1400Destr. Troy 7034 He merkit to Menestaus with a mayn dynt, Þat he hurlit fro his horse to þe hard erthe. c1470Henryson Mor. Fab. v. Parl. Beasts xxxv, Of this meniye markand to get remeid. 1570Satir. Poems Reform. xii. 76 Sen double murther markis to reule the rout. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. x. 399 Prepareng with al..thair harte, the destructione of the Catholik and Romane Kirk, quhilk vttirlie tha mark to ouirthraw.
III. To notice or observe.
13. To notice or keep the eye upon (a person or material object); to observe; to watch.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xii. 132 Lyueres to-forn vs vseden to marke The selkouthes that thei seighen her sones for to teche. 1462J. Paston in P. Lett. II. 122 They ar morkyn well inowe, and so is John Bylyngforthe. 1530Palsgr. 730/2 Mark hym whan he daunseth, you shall se hym springe lyke a yonckher. 1596Spenser F.Q. vi. ii. 5 Him stedfastly he markt, and saw to bee A goodly youth of amiable grace. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 50 God who oft descends to visit men Unseen, and through their habitations walks To mark their doings. 1711Budgell Spect. No. 116 ⁋5, I saw a Hare pop out... I marked the Way she took. 1725Pope Odyss. xvii. 448 Full well I mark'd the features of his face. 1757Foote Author i. 12 He has not mark'd me yet. 1805Wordsw. Prelude iv. 390 So near that..I could mark him well, Myself unseen. 1810Scott Lady of L. ii. vi, While yet he loiter'd on the spot, It seemed as Ellen mark'd him not. 1832Disraeli Cont. Fleming II. iii. v. 241, I looked up, I marked the tumultuous waving of many torches. 1849C. Brontë Shirley II. xii. 278 She smiled, well pleased to mark the delight of her pupil. 1860Thackeray Four Georges i, in Cornh. Mag. July 5 Lift up your glances respectfully, and mark him eyeing Madame de Fontanges. 1893Kipling Many Invent. p. viii, The children wise of outer skies Look hitherward and mark A light that shifts. 1901G. B. Shaw Caesar & Cleopatra v. 199 Rufio, satisfied, nods at Cleopatra, mutely inviting her to mark that. 1922C. Bell Since Cézanne 11 They babble in the Burlington Fine Arts Club—where nobody marks them. 1972‘M. Innes’ Open House ii. xi. 99 He paused to mark this [sc. a compliment] going home.
14. To consider; to observe mentally, give heed or attention to. Often with well.
c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 119 Marke this in yowre mynde. 1481Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 4 He muste..ernestly and diligently marke wel that he redeth. 1529Supplic. to King (E.E.T.S.) 36 Marke well what they purpose by this estatute. 1535Coverdale Isa. xxviii. 23 Take hede and heare my voyce, pondre and merck my wordes wel. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iii. i. 153 And if your Grace marke every circumstance, You haue great reason to do Richard right. 1611Bible Ps. xxxvii. 37 Marke the perfect man, and behold the vpright: for the end of that man is peace. 1788A. Hughes Henry & Isabella III. 30 They had marked a more than ordinary regard in his Lordship's behaviour to her. 1790Norman & Bertha II. 166 She recollected the husband of her former attendant,..and having marked him framed for villainies [etc.]. 1814Cary Dante, Paradise ii. 123 Mark me well. 1842Miall in Nonconf. II. 8 Another feature of the times is worth marking. 1865Kingsley Herew. xxii, Mark my words, Sir Hereward, that cunning Frenchman will treat with them one by one.
15. Sport.
a. trans. To note and keep in mind the spot to which (the game) has retired after having been ‘put up’. Also to mark down.
When pheasants or partridges are driven from cover, and are flying towards the guns, the beaters cry ‘Mark—Over!’
c1450Treat. Hawking in Rel. Ant. I. 297 If she neme oon rewarde her apon here foule, then merke the covey and goo afore them somwhat. 1486Bk. St. Albans b iij b, And go after yt by laysour to the partrich that be marked and doo as I shall tell yow here folowyng. 1749Fielding Tom Jones iii. ii, The birds flew into it, and were marked, (as it is called) by the two sportsmen. 1803P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 1 We marked the former [ducks] down. 1849E. E. Napier Excurs. S. Africa II. 331 He now dashed..up the opposite bank, having marked a second flock of oxen. 1864Cornh. Mag. X. 840 It is no good to talk of having marked birds down, unless you have distinctly seen a certain toss up of the wings as they pitch. 1874J. W. Long Amer. Wild-fowl Shooting 154 Mark! Let them go over. I'll call them down. 1898Encycl. Sport II. 92 Mark down, to keep in view or memory the spot at which the boar went to cover.
b. Of a hound: also absol.
1880Carnegie Pract. Trap. 16 The dog marked when it tried the hole again. Ibid., The dog still remained marking, so I went back. 1899Westm. Gaz. 17 Nov. 2/2 A fox was then roused..and hounds ran him..finally marking to ground after a gallop lasting nearly half an hour.
c. Football. (See quot. 1897.)
1887Shearman Athletics & Football 317 When practicable he should mark the same man throughout the game, and when the ball is thrown he should always be on the alert. 1897Encycl. Sport I. 429 (Football) Marking a man, keeping close to an opponent in order to hamper him if he should receive the ball. 1901Scotsman 11 Mar. 4/8 The Scottish players..marked the opposition too carefully to permit of their being very troublesome.
d. Austral. Rules Football (see quot. 1968). Cf. mark n.1 12 d.
1968Eagleson & McKie Terminol. Austral. Nat. Football ii. 23 Mark, catch the ball on the full directly from the kick of another player. 1969Sun-Herald (Sydney) 13 July 48/1 Hudson marked 35 yards out, but a bad kick fell well short of the goal.
16. absol. or intr. To take notice; to keep watch; to fix (one's) attention; to consider. Sometimes followed by indirect question: To ascertain by observation (what, whether, etc.). Also, mark you (or mark me, etc.); cf. look you s.v. look v. 4 a.
1526Tindale Luke i. 36 And marke, thy cosen Elizabeth, hath also conceaved a sonne in her olde age. 1563T. Wilson Logike (1580) 61 The aunswerer muste at the firste hearing of hys [opponent's] argument, marke whether it bee made accordyng to rules of Logique, or otherwise. a1591H. Smith Serm. (1637) 309 You marked when your Master taught you your trade. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 313 O vpright Iudge, Marke Iew, o learned Iudge. 1611Bible 1 Kings xx. 7 Marke, I pray you, and see how this man seeketh mischiefe. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xii. 72 Mark diligently until the Plumb-Line..cut these assigned degrees..that you are to Mount the Gun by. 1781Cowper Truth 59 The self-applauding bird, the peacock see,—Mark what a sumptuous Pharisee is he! 1837E. Howard Old Commodore I. v. [sc. vi] 210 Mark you me, Mr. Alsop, mark you me. We have done our duty, sir. 1862Mrs. H. Wood Channings II. ix. 137 ‘Impudence,’ shortly answered Yorke. ‘Mark you, Miss Channing! I have not done with you.’ 1867A. J. Evans St. Elmo xvii. 232 It remains to be seen whether a grand success is not destined to crown it. Mark you! The grapple is not quite over. 1875Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. i. (ed. 5) 3 We shall mark how the new religion, rising in the midst of a hostile power ends by embracing and transforming it. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 282 What they say is—mark, now, and see whether their words are true—they say that the soul of man is immortal. 1903G. B. Shaw Man & Superman i. 23 For mark you, Tavy, the artist's work is to shew us ourselves as we really are. 1922Joyce Ulysses 139 It was the speech, mark you, the professor said, of a finished orator. a1953E. O'Neill Touch of Poet (1957) iii. 94 Provided, mark you, that you and your daughter sign an agreement I have drawn up. 1966Listener 17 Feb. 240/1 Well, mark you, I wouldn't be the inveterate optimist I am, if I didn't live in the belief that the year of my life is yet to come.
Senses I. 2 e–f become I. 2 i–j. Senses II. 11–III. 16 become II. 12–III. 17. Add: [I.] [1.] e. Phr. to mark off trans., to measure off, demarcate.
1803T. Jefferson Address to Brothers of Choctaw Nation 17 Dec. in Writings (1903) XVI. 402 You have spoken, brothers, of the lands which your fathers formerly sold and marked off, to the English. 1879R. A. Sterndale Afghan Knife III. xvii. 289 The English officer took out a case map and unfolded it, marking off the distances with a pair of compasses. 1911Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 853/2 The course for sprinting races..is marked off in lanes for the individual runners by means of cords stretched upon short iron rods. 1992Nat. Trust Mag. Spring 34/2 The remains of a ‘ring-garth’ wall, which, in medieval times, marked off the open, grazed fell from the enclosed..land.
[2.] e. to mark off trans., to cancel with a mark or line as passed, dealt with, etc. Also fig.
1875H. James Roderick Hudson in Atlantic Monthly XXXV. 423/2 The monotonous days..seemed to Rowland's fancy to follow each other like the tick-tick of a great time-piece, marking off the hours. 1919G. B. Shaw Great Catherine i, in Heartbreak House 126 He marks off the items of his statement with ridiculous stiff gestures. 1945H. Doolittle in Life & Letter To-day May XLV. 67, I counted the days and marked them off, calculating the weeks. 1984New Yorker 9 Apr. 43/1 My time was good only for marking off the calendar, and I lived for his return.
f. trans. (in fig. use). Of experiences, etc.: to affect (a person) deeply, to leave a lasting impression on; now freq. in phr. to mark for life.
1879H. James Confidence in Scribner's Monthly Nov. 68/2 He saw that Gordon..looked older..and more serious, more marked by life. He looked as if something had happened to him. 1942W. Faulkner Go Down, Moses 202 Even Uncle Ash went, the cook,..who did little else save cook for Major de Spain's hunting..parties, yet who had been marked by the wilderness from simple juxtaposition to it. 1989A. Brookner Lewis Percy x. 147 The stamp of a suburban childhood, he reflected, probably marked one for life.
g. Chiefly Educ. To assign a mark to (an examination paper or other piece of work). Also absol., and with the pupil as obj. esp with adv., in mark down, mark up, etc.
1877H. Latham On Action of Examinations ix. 478 Two Mathematical Examiners, independently marking a set of papers, will usually agree within a few marks. 1912Collier's 12 Oct. 24/4 A writer and college instructor in Harvard whom Roosevelt did not like because ‘he marked too hard’. 1950C. S. Forester Randall & River of Time (1951) viii. 111 Mr. Randall settled himself wearily at the cleared dining-room table to mark a pile of mathematical exercises. 1960G. W. Target Teachers 220 She appeared to have arranged her desk to look as if she had been marking several sets of exercise books. 1984Guardian 21 July 5/1 Troops would be posted at all examination centres, assessment centres where the papers will be marked, and at the university headquarters where the results will be compiled. 1987Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 5 July 11/5 A high school student is suing school officials after being marked down in her class because she refused to dissect a frog. 1990Independent 29 July (Sunday Rev.) 50/1 The examiner has to attend a ‘standardisation’ meeting, which ensures that all examiners mark in exactly the same way.
h. Phr. to mark to (the) market Stock Market: to adjust (an account) on a regular basis to reflect the actual market value of (securities, etc.). Also with the vb.-stem used attrib. and absol. in mark-to-(the)-market, and with pres. pple. in marking-to-(the)-market.
1925S. Struble Brief Rev. Changes 1925 Revision Const. N.Y. Stock Exchange 39 Provision was made for..‘marking to the market.’ 1927Const. N.Y. Stock Exchange Rules v. 94 The holder or maker of said due-bill may require that it shall..be kept marked to the market. 1938H. St. Clair Pace Brokerage Accounting iii. 7 A transaction to bring to market value the amount of the cash loan on stocks..is called a mark to market. Settlement of marks to market are made through the Day Branch of the Stock Clearing Corporation. 1981Econ. Recovery Tax Act 1981 (U.S. Senate Rep. No. 144) 157 The committee bill adopts a mark-to-market system for the taxation of commodity futures contracts... All futures contracts must be mark-to-market at year end. Ibid. Marking-to-market requires daily cash adjustments through the exchange clearing association to reconcile exchange members' net gains and losses. 1993Virginia Tax Rev. Summer 80 The existence of margins is by no means an essential element of mark-to-market taxation.
[7.] h. Stock Market. To make a record of (a transaction), noting the price at which trading takes place.
1911Encycl. Brit. XXV. 931/2 [At the Stock Exchange] bargains are ‘marked’, that is, the prices at which they are ‘done’ are recorded in the official list. 1963H. D. Berman Stock Exchange (ed. 4) iii. 18 Bargains can be ‘marked’ by either broker or jobber (or both) but only one mark at any particular price is recorded, and that not necessarily in the order in which the bargains have been done. 1978Times 6 Sept. 22/1 Jobbers marked stocks better before the official opening.
▪ IV. mark
obs. form of marque1, mirk. |