hallmark

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word hallmark. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word hallmark, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say hallmark in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word hallmark you have here. The definition of the word hallmark will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofhallmark, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: Hallmark

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

1721. hall +‎ mark, from Goldsmiths' Hall in London, the site of the assay office, official stamp of purity in gold and silver articles. The general sense of “mark of quality” first recorded 1864. Use as a verb from 1773.

Pronunciation

Noun

hallmark (plural hallmarks)

  1. (figurative) A distinguishing characteristic.
    • 1894 December – 1895 November, Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, , published 1896, →OCLC:
      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.
    • 1907, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter VII, in Through the Magic Door, London: Smith, Elder & Co., , →OCLC, page 147:
      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.
    • 1910 March, Jack London, “The Terrible Solomons”, in South Sea Tales, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published October 1911, →OCLC, page 200:
      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.
    • a. 1911, David Graham Phillips, Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise:
      In everything Brent said and did and wore, in all his movements, gestures, expressions, there was the unmistakable hallmark of the man worth while.
    • 2011 February 1, Phil McNulty, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Everton”, in BBC:
      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.
  2. An official marking made by a trusted party, usually an assay office, on items made of precious metals.
    • 2007, John Zerzan John, Silence:
      It can highlight our embodiment, a qualitative step away from the hallmark machines that work so resolutely to disembody us.

Translations

Verb

hallmark (third-person singular simple present hallmarks, present participle hallmarking, simple past and past participle hallmarked)

  1. To provide or stamp with a hallmark.

Translations

See also