hallmark

plural hallmarks

1. figurativelyA distinguishing characteristic.

   You know what a university is, and a university degree? It is the necessary hallmark of a man who wants to do anything in teaching.

   1894 December – 1895 November, Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], published 1896, →OCLC

   5 more examples

   The inference appears to be that there is some subtle connection between immorality and art, as if the handling of the lewd, or the depicting of it, were in some sort the hallmark of the true artist.

   1907, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter VII, in Through the Magic Door, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 147

   A man needs only to be careful—and lucky—to live a long time in the Solomons; but he must also be of the right sort. He must have the hall-mark of the inevitable white man stamped upon his soul.

   1910 March, Jack London, “The Terrible Solomons”, in South Sea Tales, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published October 1911, →OCLC, page 200

   In everything Brent said and did and wore, in all his movements, gestures, expressions, there was the unmistakable hallmark of the man worth while.

   a. 1911, David Graham Phillips, Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise

   Arsene Wenger's side showed little of the style and fluidity that is their hallmark but this was about digging deep and getting the job done, qualities they demonstrated and that will serve them well as the season reaches its climax.

   2011 February 1, Phil McNulty, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Everton”, in BBC

   And this is where the larger problem lies: when states try to enforce impossible bans, everyone loses. 3D printing farragoes have all the hallmarks of the absolute worst kind of ineffectual ban: one which encourages overly draconian laws that carry huge side effects, and that ultimately to have little to no effect.

   2013 May 10, James Ball, “US government attempts to stifle 3D-printer gun designs will ultimately fail”, in The Guardian

2. An official marking made by a trusted party, usually an assay office, on items made of precious metals.

   It can highlight our embodiment, a qualitative step away from the hallmark machines that work so resolutely to disembody us.

   2007, John Zerzan, Silence

present singular third person hallmarks · participle present hallmarking · participle past hallmarked · past hallmarked

1. To provide or stamp with a hallmark.

   The cane was undoubtedly of foreign make, for it had a solid silver ferrule at one end, which was not English hall–marked.

   1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Ayrsham Mystery”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020

   1 more example

   […]everything on my plate those forks and fishslicers were hallmarked silver too I wish I had some I could easily have slipped a couple into my muff when I was playing with them[…]

   1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[18]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC

plural Hallmarks

1. A surname.
2. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of Hallmark Cards.