hash mark
- noun
- /hæʃ mɑrk/
- Jargon
:
insignia
- When the final beeper came aboard, I counted 15 hash marks on the bulkhead beside #10.
Examples
-
He admired the hash marks on his superior's sleeve, which reflected a long and honorable career in the military.
-
After completing five years in the force, she earned her first hash mark on her uniform.
-
When buoy 1920 came aboard, ending the third section, I counted eight hash marks for #3 and breathed a sigh of relief.
Fiction book (1999) -
Such is the nature of the choice facing those who cannot resist voting for one or the other of Monday's contenders: the wannabe destroyer of worlds, or the guy with all the bloody hash marks on his arm.
Blog text (3) -
The soldier proudly displayed his hash marks on his uniform, symbolizing his years of dedicated service.
Synonyms
41
3.2
A narrow band on a uniform showing a person's military rank or years of service
10
4.9
A V-shaped badge on a uniform sleeve that shows a person's rank or how long they served
A stripe on a uniform showing how many years someone has served
A narrow strip of cloth on a uniform sleeve that shows years of service
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is directly compositional: 'hash' names the '#' symbol and 'mark' means a sign or notation, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer it refers to the '#' symbol used as a mark. This noun+noun naming pattern for symbols is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so the meaning is immediately derivable from the parts.
Etymology
Hash mark comes from small short lines sewn on a uniform sleeve to show a soldier's time in service. Each hash or mark looked like a short tally line and stood for a few years, so the marks came to mean 'years of service'.