earmark

Meanings

Plural: earmarks

Noun

• identification mark on the ear of a domestic animal
• a distinctive characteristic or attribute
• A mark or deformation of the ear of an animal, intended to indicate ownership.
• The designation of specific projects in appropriations of funding for general programs.
• A mark for identification; a distinguishing mark.

Verb

• give or assign a resource to a particular person or cause
  • "I will earmark this money for your research"
• To mark (sheep or other animals) by slitting the ear.
• To specify or set aside for a particular purpose, to allocate.
• 2012, Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow, →ISBN, page 74
• 2012, Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow, →ISBN, page 74: Now that police departments were suddenly flush with cash and military equipment earmarked for the drug war, they needed to make use of their new resources.
• Now that police departments were suddenly flush with cash and military equipment earmarked for the drug war, they needed to make use of their new resources.
• 2017 November 16, Jo Ellison, “Help: the gym has turned us into slobs”, in Financial Times
• 2017 November 16, Jo Ellison, “Help: the gym has turned us into slobs”, in Financial Times: But even I draw the line at “doing crunches” in designer clothes. Fashion sneakers are for swanking around the shops, not for running in. And so, like everyone else, I wear grotty old tracksuits earmarked for Oxfam, and tragic free festival T-shirts that give away my age.
• But even I draw the line at “doing crunches” in designer clothes. Fashion sneakers are for swanking around the shops, not for running in. And so, like everyone else, I wear grotty old tracksuits earmarked for Oxfam, and tragic free festival T-shirts that give away my age.
• 2020 December 2, Christian Wolmar, “Wales offers us a glimpse of an integrated transport policy”, in Rail, page 56
• 2020 December 2, Christian Wolmar, “Wales offers us a glimpse of an integrated transport policy”, in Rail, page 56: A widening of the M4 had long been mooted, and the Welsh Government had even earmarked most of the required £1.6bn funding for a new 14-mile, six-lane section around Newport. Then, in the face of opposition from environmentalists, came a realisation that similar road schemes across the world tend merely to encourage greater car use and therefore soon prove ineffective in solving the original problem.
• A widening of the M4 had long been mooted, and the Welsh Government had even earmarked most of the required £1.6bn funding for a new 14-mile, six-lane section around Newport. Then, in the face of opposition from environmentalists, came a realisation that similar road schemes across the world tend merely to encourage greater car use and therefore soon prove ineffective in solving the original problem.
• To designate part of a pension to be payable to the holder's former spouse or partner at its time of payment.

Synonyms

allot, allow, appropriate, hallmark, lugmark, reserve, sepose, set apart, set aside, stylemark, trademark

Related Words

expenditure, pork barrel