Meaning of Earmark | Babel Free

Definitions

1. 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.
   figuratively
3. An act of designating certain funds to be used for a specific purpose.
   figuratively
4. Specifically, a designation by the Congress that certain federal funds be appropriated for a specific project.
   US, figuratively

Equivalents

Examples

“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.”

CEFR level