Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A model or brand of a manufactured product, especially an automobile.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Seizure.
  • noun Originally, a commission granted by the supreme authority of a state to a subject, empowering him to enter an enemy's territory and capture the goods or persons of the enemy in return for goods or persons taken by him.
  • noun In present usage, a license or extraordinary commission granted by a sovereign or the supreme power of a state to its citizens to make reprisals at sea on the subjects of another, under pretense of indemnification for injuries received—that is, a license to engage in privateering. Letters of marque were abolished among European nations by the treaty of Paris of 1856. The United States declined to accede to this agreement, but proposed that all innocent private property at sea be exempt from seizure by public armed vessels in time of war.
  • noun Hence— A private vessel commissioned to attack and capture the vessels of an enemy; a privateer.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Law) A license to pass the limits of a jurisdiction, or boundary of a country, for the purpose of making reprisals.
  • noun a license or extraordinary commission granted by a government to a private person to fit out a privateer or armed ship to cruise at sea and make prize of the enemy's ships and merchandise. The ship so commissioned is sometimes called a letter of marque.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A license to pass the limits of a jurisdiction, or boundary of a country, for the purpose of making reprisals; a letter of marque
  • noun A brand of a manufactured product, especially a model of motor car

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a name given to a product or service

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Old French; see marquetry.]

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Examples

  • The marque is worth $66. 4-billion (U.S.), according to a study by global market researcher company Millward Brown Optimor.

    Google Names World’s Most Valuable Brand | Impact Lab 2007

  • We had the honour of sharing with Louisiana the picturesque gentleman pirate Lafitte, who was said by his enemies to make love or to scuttle a ship with equal success, and by his friends to be a seigneur with letters of marque from the French government.

    My beloved South, Mrs. T. P. O 1914

  • You really ought to consider chartering your boat to groups of Privateers, we’ll get letters of marque from the Japanese government and hunt the greenies.

    ‘Capt.’ Paul Watson, COME ON DOWN! You’re the Grand Prize Winner in Bob Barker’s Animal Jihad! - Vladimir’s blog - RedState 2010

  • This year the talking point of his marque was a pocket watch, for which one will need deep pockets, both figuratively and literally.

    Style: Timing Is Everything 2008

  • Toyota: The recall crisis at the Japanese carmaker has spread to the Lexus, its luxury marque, which is essentially built on the same platform as Toyota's third-generation Prius and shares the same software fault in its braking system.

    Top stories from Times Online 2010

  • The bridal 'car' will be a polished prime mover from the family's trucking business and the marque is the biggest they could hire - 32 metres by eight metres.

    northernstar.com.au: The Northern Star 2009

  • But it was also all the inconsistent calls, Stern's mismanagement of the league and most of the owner's gambling on 'marque' players to fill seats instead of building sound teams.

    Original Signal - Transmitting Digg 2010

  • "I think we are looking at the end of September depending on how he reacts," hope not, it'll be like getting the 'marque' signing everyone's been crying out for city beat 2 nil by the pirates with tevez sitting in the stands haha, get used to you stupid greedy cunt

    Soccer Blogs - latest posts 2009

  • Finally the French government, the colony's parent, resorts to old precedent and issues "letters of marque and reprisal" for a privateer to go out and fight back.

    Attack of the Classics Tom Shippey 2011

  • BMW's sales of the BMW marque rose 21% from a year earlier in the first quarter to 321,175 cars, driven by demand for its revamped 5-Series vehicles.

    Germany's Luxury Car Makers on Track for Record Year Christoph Rauwald 2011

Comments

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  • Especially motors.

    January 4, 2009