water-mark

watermark (ˈwɔːtəˌmɑːk)

—n
1.	a distinguishing mark impressed on paper during manufacture, visible when the paper is held up to the light
2.	water line another word for water line

—vb
3.	to mark (paper) with a watermark

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Word Origin & History

watermark

1708, "distinctive mark on paper," from water + mark. Cf. Ger. wassermarke. Not produced by water, but probably so called because it looks like a wet spot. The verb is recorded from 1866.

Matching Quote

"Conversation is a game of circles. In conversation we pluck up the termini which bound the common silence on every side. The parties are not to be judged by the spirit they partake and even express under this Pentecost. To-morrow they will have receded from this high-water mark. To-morrow you shall find them stooping under the old pack-saddles. Yet let us enjoy the cloven flame whilst it glows on these walls. When each new speaker strikes a new light, emancipates us from the oppression of the last speaker to oppress us with the greatness and exclusiveness of his own thought, then yields us to another redeemer, we seem to recover our rights, to become men."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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