Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Mark in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels mark as verb. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913verb
Mark

[OE. marken, merken, AS. mearcian, from mearc. See Mark the sign.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordmark
Part of speechverb
Historical etymology[OE. marken, merken, AS. mearcian, from mearc. See Mark the sign.]
Selected historical definitionTo put a mark upon; to affix a significant mark to; to make recognizable by a mark; as, to mark a box or bale of merchandise; to mark clothing.
Signed record IDwebster1913-mark-verb-5a79d59d928c
Source locatorCIDE.M, paragraph 2708; Gutenberg eBook 665
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 665Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "mark" is labeled verb. Its etymology is recorded as: "[OE. marken, merken, AS. mearcian, from mearc. See Mark the sign.]" The selected historical definition says: "To put a mark upon; to affix a significant mark to; to make recognizable by a mark; as, to mark a box or bale of merchandise; to mark clothing."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

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