Mark.

God bless the mark! An ejaculation of contempt or scorn. (See Save the Mark.)

“To be ruled by my conscience, I should stay with the Jew my master, who, God bless the mark! is a kind of devil.”—Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, ii. 2.

To make one’s mark. To distinguish oneself. He has written his name (or made his mark) on the page of history.

Up to the mark. Generally used in the negative; as, “Not quite up to the mark,” not good enough, not up to the standard fixed by the Assay office for gold and silver articles; not quite well.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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