Definition
nounBoundary, land within a boundary.
nounBoundary, land within a boundary., A boundary; a border or frontier.
Sentence Examples
You're wide of the mark.
Your guess is entirely off the mark.
The Queen unveiled a plaque to mark the official opening of the hospital.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English mark, merk, merke, from Old English mearc (“mark, sign, line of division; standard; boundary, limit, term, border; defined area, district, province”), from Proto-West Germanic *marku, from Proto-Germanic *markō (“boundary; boundary marker”), from Proto-Indo-European *mórǵs (“edge, boundary, border”).
Compare march.
Cognates
* Dutch mark, merk (“mark, brand”)
* German Mark (“mark; borderland”), Marke (“mark, brand”)
* Swedish mark (“mark, land, territory”)
* Icelandic mark (“mark, sign”)
* Latin margō (“edge, margin”)
* Persian مرز (marz, “limit, boundary”)
* Sanskrit मर्या (maryā, “limit, mark, boundary”), मार्ग (mārga, “mark, section”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I do remember a great thron in Yatton field near Bristow-way, against which Sir William Waller's men made a great fire and killed it. I think the stump remains, and was a mark for travellers."
— 1859, Henry Bull, A history, military and municipal, of the ancient borough of the Devizes:
"There dwells Théoden son of Thengel, King of the Mark of Rohan."
— 1954, J R R Tolkien, The Two Towers:
"depend upon it, you will speedily receive from me a letter of thanks for this as well as for every other mark of your regard during my stay in Hertfordshire."
— 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
"there is surely a physiognomy, which those experienced and master mendicants observe, whereby they instantly discover a merciful aspect, and will single out a face, wherein they spy the signatures and marks of mercy."
— 1642, [Thomas Browne], “(please specify the page)”, in Religio Medici, London: […] Andrew Crooke, →OCLC:
"Then she put before her face her poor crushed hands, which bore on their whiteness the red mark of the Count's terrible grip[…]."
— 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC: