marker

Etymology

From mark + -er.

noun

1. Someone or something that creates marks, particularly
   1. A felt-tipped pen, a marker pen.
      Don't use the permanent marker on the whiteboard.
   2. A scorekeeper, especially one who tallies billiard scores.
   3. (paintball) A device that fires a paintball.
2. Someone or something used to mark a position or amount, particularly
   1. A 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. 22 September 2013, Phil McNulty, “Man City 4-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport
   2. (US, slang) Synonym of IOU, an informal record of a debt.
   3. (linguistics) A free or bound morpheme indicating a grammatical function.
   4. (linguistics) Short for discourse marker.
   5. (biology) A 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, page 88
   6. (biology, medicine) A 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
   7. (military) The soldier who forms the pilot of a wheeling column or marks the direction of an alignment.
   8. A sewing machine attachment that creases the fabric to mark a line
   9. A counter, especially one used in card games.
   10. Any of various objects that mark a place on the landscape, such as a milepost, blaze, or surveyor's cairn.
       Coordinate term: landmark
3. (UK) Someone 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! …. July 15 2020, Mike Brown tells Paul Clifton, “Leading London's "hidden heroes"”, in Rail, page 47
4. (colloquial) The ink marks or residue of a felt-tipped pen.
   Susie got marker all over the walls.
5. (figurative) A 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. (competition law) A 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. (sports) A 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. 21 April 2012, Jonathan Jurejko, “Newcastle 3-0 Stoke”, in BBC Sport
8. (dated) A player employed by a private club to compete against members.
   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)
   I played seven sets of doubles with Mitchell (the second best player in Ceylon) and David, the native marker. 1 June 1907, “Mr. A. F. Wilding's Tour”, in New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, No. 13453, page 7
9. (Philippines, informal, basketball, volleyball) A point, unit of scoring in a game or competition.

verb

1. To mark or write on (something) using a marker
   On one page someone has markered: "Remember, you are your own best thing." July 5, 2002, Mike Sula, “Everything Must Go”, in Chicago Reader