Mark - Definition and Overview

As well as being a popular male name, Mark is the name of several things of interest:

Biblical

• Mark the Evangelist - one of the gospel writers of the life of Jesus.
• Gospel of Mark - the gospel of Mark the Evangelist.
• "The Mark" refers to the forced use of the alleged name of the Antichrist or the presumed "Number of the Beast" (666), which it is claimed will be required to be imposed upon all persons as a condition of being able to engage in commerce as noted in the Book of Revelation of the Christian Bible.

Measurement and currency

• Mark - an archaic European unit of weight whose use for precious metal gave rise to the currencies.
• Gold mark - the currency of the German Empire
• Deutsche Mark - the name of the former currency of Germany, now replaced by the euro.
• East German mark or Ostmark - the name of the former currency in German Democratic Republic, replaced by the Deutsche Mark upon that state's unification with the Federal Republic of Germany.
• Markka or Finnish mark - the name of the former currency in Finland, now replaced by the euro.
• Mark - a former unit of account in England.
• Convertible mark - the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Geography

• Marks, Mississippi - a town in the United States
• Mark Municipality - a municipality in Sweden.
• Mark Hundred - a hundred in Westrogorhia, Sweden
• A Mark or "Earldom" - medieval state in Westphalia, part of the Holy Roman Empire.
• In German, Mark (in English, "Margravate") also denotes a border area of the Holy Roman empire. It was ruled by a markgraf, or "Margrave". Examples are the Altmark, Neumark, and Mark Brandenburg.

Literature and legend

• Mark is a King of Cornwall in Arthurian legend.
• "The Mark" - colloquial name for the fictional land of Rohan in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The name was probably taken from the German above.

Slang

• A "mark" - the slang term for the victim of a con game or as an intended victim of an assassination.
• When a trademark is used as a brand name to identify a product, or a service mark is used to identify the producer of services, either type is commonly referred to as a mark.
• A professional wrestling "mark" -- the slang term for a fan who believes what they see is legitimate.

Technology

• Mark (computing) - a delimiter at the beginning or end of a transmission sequence.
• Mark frequency - in radio transmission; see frequency-shift keying.

Sport

Football

• To mark in association football (or soccer) is to have a player follow an opposing striker or other prominent player, and attempt to prevent them getting control of the ball and/or scoring.

• A mark in Australian Rules Football is a "clean" catch from a kick by another player, from either team. For a mark to be paid the ball must not have touched the ground or another player. A player taking a mark is entitled to a free kick, from behind the point at which the ball was caught.