marker

plural markers

1. Someone or something that creates marks, particularly
   1. countableuncountableA felt-tipped pen, a marker pen.

      Don't use the permanent marker on the whiteboard.

   2. countableuncountableA scorekeeper, especially one who tallies billiard scores.

      "It has been ready a long while," answered the marker, who had already set the balls in a triangle, and was knocking the red one about for his own diversion.

      1901 [1878], chapter 8, in Constance Garnett, transl., Anna Karenina, translation of Анна Каренина (Anna Karenina) by Leo Tolstoy, part 7

   3. countableuncountablegamesA device that fires a paintball.
2. countableuncountableSomeone or something used to mark a position or amount, particularly

   Board member Phillip Carlson […] said he considers [the election of] Brading to be a marker for the distance the gay and lesbian community has come.

   1990 April 7, Deborah Schwartz, “Gay Group Hires Straight Man”, in Gay Community News, page 5

   1. countableuncountableA real or virtual objective, something to be aimed for.

      Pellegrini insisted this was a game City had to win - this they did and with the sort of performance that put down a marker for how the Chilean wants his team to play.

      2013 September 22, Phil McNulty, “Man City 4-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport

   2. countableuncountablebroadcastingA location on a stage or set where an actor is to stand or move to during a scene, usually indicated by a small X design placed on the floor.
   3. countableuncountablebroadcastingA direction issued by a camera operator for actors to be on their locations in readiness for a take.
   4. UScountableslanguncountableSynonym of IOU, an informal record of a debt.

      Synonyms: IOU

   5. countableuncountablehuman sciencesA free or bound morpheme indicating a grammatical function.
   6. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountablehuman sciencesEllipsis of discourse marker.
   7. countableuncountablebiologyA gene or DNA sequence with a known location on a chromosome that can be used to identify individuals or species.

      Markers are mapped relative to one another on chromosomes and used as signposts against which to map genes of interest that are linked with marker. This process of finding the linked markers/genes is referred to as grouping.

      2012, N Manikanda Boopathi, Genetic Mapping and Marker Assisted Selection: Basics, Practice and Benefits, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 88

   8. countableuncountablebiologyA substance used as an indicator for diagnosis or other analysis, a biomarker.

      Nurse Hall: Is there any reason we shouldn't do a full workup? / Steve Denube: Ignorance is bliss; that's about it. Hangover's worse than usual but that's probably from the drinking and recreational drug use. / Nurse Hall: We'll ignore the ganja and booger sugar markers.

      2019, Justin Benson, directed by Justin Benson, Synchronic, spoken by Nurse Hall and Steve Denube (Rhonda Johnson Dents and Anthony Mackie), XYZ Films, →OCLC

   9. countableuncountablegovernmentThe soldier who forms the pilot of a wheeling column or marks the direction of an alignment.
   10. countableuncountableA sewing machine attachment that creases the fabric to mark a line
   11. countableuncountableA counter, especially one used in card games or backgammon.
   12. countableuncountableAny of various objects that mark a place on the landscape, such as a milepost, blaze, or surveyor's cairn.
3. UKcountableuncountableSomeone who assigns marks on tests, examinations, etc.; a grader.

   So, in his end of term report, what marks would Brown award himself for his time at TfL? "8½," he replies. Why? "I'm a hard marker! […]

   2020 July 15, Mike Brown tells Paul Clifton, “Leading London's "hidden heroes"”, in Rail, page 47

4. colloquialuncountableThe ink marks or residue of a felt-tipped pen.

   Susie got marker all over the walls.

5. countablefigurativelyuncountableA personal favor owed to someone, whether written or not.

   We may not be able to do this alone. Maybe it’s time to call in some of our markers.

6. countableuncountablecompetition lawA formal certification that a company was the first to approach a competition authority to reveal the existence of a cartel, generally entitling it to greater leniency during the cartel's dissolution and punishment.
7. countableuncountablehobbiesA player on defense used to mark one or more offensive players.

   He skipped past Marc Wilson before clipping a delicious cross into the Stoke danger zone, where Cisse's sharp movement allowed him to escape marker Robert Huth and send a far-post header crashing against the crossbar. And Cabaye was waiting to pounce on the rebound with a close range header.

   2012 April 21, Jonathan Jurejko, “Newcastle 3-0 Stoke”, in BBC Sport

8. countabledateduncountableA player employed by a private club to compete against members.

   I played seven sets of doubles with Mitchell (the second best player in Ceylon) and David, the native marker.

   1907 June 1, “Mr. A. F. Wilding's Tour”, in New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, No. 13453, page 7

   3 more examples

   The Court itself, with its rent, the wages of the Marker and the tips to the Marker, the rackets and the balls, the baths and the flannels and the washing of the flannels, do much to account for the costliness of play.

   1903, Eustace Miles, Racquets, tennis, and squash, New York: Appleton & Co., page 39

   Some of the native markers attain to great skill, and the brilliant success in London of " Jamsetjee " the Bombay professional affords sufficient testimony to their capabilities.

   1904 "Squash and Racquets" in Frederick George Aflalo ed. The sportsman's book for India p.519 (London: Horace Marshall & Son)

   Of his victories over the curate at this game he is as proud as are others of his sex and cloth, not being old maids, of their mastery of "side" at billiards, and of an occasional victory over the club marker at evens.

   1904 "A Foreign Resident" (George Washburn Smalley and Thomas Hay Sweet Escott) "Where Wit, Wealth and Empire Meet" Society in the new reign p.76 (London: T Fisher Unwin)

9. Philippinescountableinformaluncountableball gamesA point, unit of scoring in a game or competition.

present singular third person markers · participle present markering · participle past markered · past markered

1. To mark or write on (something) using a marker

   On one page someone has markered: "Remember, you are your own best thing."

   2002 July 5, Mike Sula, “Everything Must Go”, in Chicago Reader