lettermark

noun, verb — 4 senses

lettermark

noun

Etymology From letter + mark.

1

Business, Communication, Communications, Marketing, Media, Publishing, Typography A text-only logo consisting of the initials of a brand name or business.

2

Government, Politics US The designation of funds from the federal budget for a particular project created in response to a letter from a member of congress to an official in the executive branch who is responsible for authorizing appropriations.

  • Part I documents the rise of lettermarking and explains how lettermarks damage American democracy.2015 April, James Dawson, “Curbing Lettermarks”, in Yale Journal on Regulation, volume 32, number 1:

lettermark

verb

Etymology From letter + mark.

1

Government, Politics US To obtain a lettermark on funds from the federal budget by sending a letter (from a member of Congress) to the appropriate official in the executive branch who is responsible for authorizing appropriations.

  • Appropriations bills sometimes include funds for projects not requested by the executive branch. This allow members of Congress to 'lettermark' these funds by unofficially contacting executive officials directly and requesting that the funds are directed to their state or district.2022, Sarra Jenkins, Emma Kilheeney McSherry, US Politics Annual Update 2022:
2

To mark (something) with one or more letters of the alphabet to indicate its brand or category.

  • We send young men "to College," hale and hearty, and the College sends them back duly stamped, — " letter-marked," i.e. invalids.1871 July, Rev. C. E. Weiser, “The Fourfold Culture of Man”, in Mercersburg Quarterly Review, volume 18, page 347:
  • My Perigordin patois very pleasantly calls these pretenders to learning, lettre-ferits, as a man should say, lettermarked—men on whom letters have been stamped by the blow of a mallet.1877, Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, William Carew Hazlitt, Essays, tr. by C. Cotton:
1 more example
  • When the ship arrived at its destination, a local craftsman could assemble a vessel, orienting on the lettermarking.1993, Acta Hyperborea - Volumes 5-6, page 382:
Related terms
earmark, phonemark

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.