mark

Related to mark: Mark the Evangelist, Mark Zuckerberg, Gospel of Mark

mark

slang The intended or ideal victim of a con, swindle, or theft. I knocked into the mark on the sidewalk, and my partner lifted his wallet while we got back to our feet. Jacques told me about a sweet, trusting, exceptionally wealthy old lady who would make the perfect mark for his scheme.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

mark

n. a dupe; a victim selected for a theft or a swindle. (Underworld.) I bumped the mark on the shoulder, and he put his hand on his wallet just like always.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See:
  • a black mark
  • a black mark against (one)
  • a black mark against someone
  • a black mark beside (one's) name
  • a question mark
  • a question mark hangs over somebody/something
  • be close to the mark
  • be close to/near the mark
  • be not up to the mark
  • be off the mark
  • be quick off the mark
  • be quick/slow off the mark
  • be slow off the mark
  • be up to the mark
  • be wide of the mark
  • be/fall wide of the mark
  • beauty mark
  • beside the mark
  • beside the point
  • black mark
  • black mark beside name
  • close to the mark
  • deutsche mark
  • easy mark
  • fall wide of the mark
  • far off the mark
  • full marks
  • get off the mark
  • give bad marks to
  • give bad marks to (someone or something)
  • high-water mark
  • hit the bull's-eye
  • hit the mark
  • hit/miss the mark
  • leave (one's or its) mark on (someone or something)
  • leave (one's) mark
  • leave its mark
  • leave mark on
  • leave your mark
  • leave/make your/its mark
  • make (one's) mark
  • make a mark
  • make mark
  • make one's mark
  • make your mark
  • mark
  • mark (one) for life
  • mark (one's) card
  • mark (someone or something) as (something)
  • mark (someone or something) down as (something)
  • mark (someone or something) with (something)
  • mark (something) in (something)
  • mark (something) with a white stone
  • mark as
  • mark down
  • mark for life
  • mark in
  • mark my word
  • mark my word(s)
  • mark my words
  • mark off
  • mark out
  • mark someone's card
  • mark something with a white stone
  • mark time
  • mark up
  • mark with
  • mark you
  • mark, learn, and inwardly digest
  • miss the mark
  • near the mark
  • not up to the mark
  • off the mark
  • on the mark
  • on your mark(s)
  • on your mark(s), get set, go
  • on your mark, get set, go
  • on your marks
  • on your marks, get set, go!
  • overshoot the mark
  • overstep (one's)/its mark
  • overstep the mark
  • overstep the mark/line
  • question mark
  • question mark over
  • quick off the mark
  • skid mark
  • skid marks
  • slow off the mark
  • spot on the mark
  • the mark of Cain
  • toe the line
  • toe the line/mark, to
  • toe the mark
  • up to par
  • up to the mark
  • wide of the mark
  • X marks the spot
References in classic literature
So saying, and without showing the least anxiety to pause upon his aim, Locksley stept to the appointed station, and shot his arrow as carelessly in appearance as if he had not even looked at the mark. He was speaking almost at the instant that the shaft left the bowstring, yet it alighted in the target two inches nearer to the white spot which marked the centre than that of Hubert.
Ivanhoe
"I cannot see any fitting mark, for I care not to waste a bolt upon these shields, which a drunken boor could not miss at a village kermesse."
The White Company
"The Mark Boat's mad--stark ravin' crazy," he snorts, returning to command.
Actions and Reactions
“Look this a-way, Billy Kirby,” said Leather-Stocking, and let them clear the mark, and I’ll show you a man who’s made better shots afore now, and that when he’s been hard pressed by the savages and wild beasts,”
Pioneers
To sum up, it is a distinctive mark of substance, that, while remaining numerically one and the same, it is capable of admitting contrary qualities, the modification taking place through a change in the substance itself.
Categories
As he rushed, bull-like, toward Norman of Torn, the latter made no move to draw; he but stood with folded arms, eyeing Shandy with cold, level gaze; his head held high, haughty face marked by an arrogant sneer of contempt.
The Outlaw of Torn
Here was a chance of reading that domestic bit about the child which I had marked on the day of Mr.
The Moonstone
Here, Marks! here's that ar feller that I was in with in Natchez."
Uncle Toms Cabin
I have several such dried bits, which I use for marks in my whale-books.
Moby Dick LXVIII CXXXIV
Every human being carries with him from his cradle to his grave certain physical marks which do not change their character, and by which he can always be identified--and that without shade of doubt or question.
Puddnhead Wilson
When a dotted line reaches one of the horizontal lines, and is there marked by a small numbered letter, a sufficient amount of variation is supposed to have been accumulated to have formed a fairly well-marked variety, such as would be thought worthy of record in a systematic work.
The Origin of Species
And here's one marked for Gatesgarth, and three that come from Littletown.
Original Peter Rabbit Books
When a piece of timber was intended for the larboard side, it would be marked thus--"L." When a piece was for the starboard side, it would be marked thus--"S." A piece for the larboard side forward, would be marked thus--"L.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave
Apart from their serious influence as determining destinies of the character, what endless opportunities they afford to lovers, who perhaps are denied all other meeting-places than may be found on the tell-tale pages of a marked volume.
Quest of the Golden Girl
Since the objects of imitation are men in action, and these men must be either of a higher or a lower type (for moral character mainly answers to these divisions, goodness and badness being the distinguishing marks of moral differences), it follows that we must represent men either as better than in real life, or as worse, or as they are.
Poetics of Aristotle