Earmark

/ˈɪəmɑːk/ · noun

Meaning

(chiefly agriculture) A mark made or tag attached to the ear of an animal (chiefly a livestock animal), generally to identify or indicate something about the animal, such as ownership, health or gestation status, etc..

Definitions by Sense

1. (chiefly agriculture) A mark made or tag attached to the ear of an animal (chiefly a livestock animal), generally to identify or indicate something about the animal, such as ownership, health or gestation status, etc.
2. A distinguishing or identifying mark or sign; specifically (archaic), a mark of ownership.
3. An act of designating certain funds to be used for a specific purpose.
4. Specifically, a designation by the Congress that certain federal funds be appropriated for a specific project.
5. (chiefly agriculture) To make a mark or attach a tag to the ear of (an animal, chiefly a livestock animal), generally to identify or indicate something about the animal, such as ownership.
6. To put a distinguishing or identifying mark or sign on (something); to make (something) distinctive or identifiable.
7. To designate or set aside (someone or something) for a particular purpose; to allocate.
8. Chiefly followed by for: to designate (certain funds) to be used for a specific purpose.

Example Sentences

Some mark them [sheep] vvith Raddle and make Ear-marks.

[H]e ſhoulde be dyſcryued by hys rounding and his eare marke: […]

Mr. Bayes, many as proper a man as your ſelf march'd up Holborn for diſtinguiſhing betvvixt the VVealth and the Fanatick: and moreover let me tell you, Fanatick Money hath no Ear-mark.

VVe are likevviſe all agreed that if the goods had remain in ſpecie unſold in the bankrupt's hands at the time of the bankruptcy, the plaintiffs might have recovered them in an action of trover, and that they could not be applied to pay the bankrupt's debts, […] [W]hy are goods conſidered ſtill as the ovvners? becauſe they remain in ſpecie, and ſo may be diſtinguiſhed from the reſt of the bankrupt's eſtate. But as money has no earmark, it cannot be diſtinguiſhed.

I am inclined to think that his most besetting sin in style,—the little earmark by which he is most conspicuous,—is a certain affected familiarity.

[…] I saw in my patient one of the most forbidding men I have ever met. He had all the earmarks of a criminal.

In barely a decade, the War on Drugs went from being a political slogan to an actual war. Now that police departments were suddenly flush with cash and military equipment earmarked for the drug war, they needed to make use of their new resources.

But even I draw the line at "doing crunches" in designer clothes. Fashion sneakers are for swanking around the shops, not for running in. And so, like everyone else, I wear grotty old tracksuits earmarked for Oxfam, and tragic free festival T-shirts that give away my age.

Synonyms for earmark

Antonyms for earmark

Related Words

Word Forms

• earmarks
• earmarking
• earmarked

Usage Notes

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