different between assign vs earmark

English

Etymology

From Middle English assignen, from Old French assigner, asigner, from Latin assign?, from ad- + sign? (“mark, sign”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??sa?n/
• Hyphenation: as?sign
• Rhymes: -a?n

Verb

assign (third-person singular simple present assigns, present participle assigning, simple past and past participle assigned)

1. (transitive) To designate or set apart something for some purpose.

2. (transitive) To appoint or select someone for some office.

3. (transitive) To allot or give something as a task.
   • Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.

4. (transitive) To attribute or sort something into categories.
5. (transitive, law) To transfer property, a legal right, etc., from one person to another.
6. (transitive, programming) To give (a value) to a variable.

Synonyms

• (set apart something for some purpose): allocate, earmark; see also Thesaurus:set apart
• (transfer property): consign, convey; see also Thesaurus:transfer

Derived terms

• assignment
• assignable
• assignation

Translations

Noun

assign (plural assigns)

1. An assignee.
2. (obsolete) A thing relating or belonging to something else; an appurtenance.
3. (obsolete) An assignment or appointment.
4. (obsolete) A design or purpose.

English

Etymology

ear +? mark

Pronunciation

Verb

earmark (third-person singular simple present earmarks, present participle earmarking, simple past and past participle earmarked)

1. (transitive) To mark (as of sheep) by slitting the ear.
2. (transitive, by extension) To specify or set aside for a particular purpose, to allocate.

Synonyms

• (set aside for a particular purpose): appropriate, sepose; see also Thesaurus:set apart

Translations

Noun

earmark (plural earmarks)

1. A mark or deformation of the ear of an animal, intended to indicate ownership.
2. (US, politics) The designation of specific projects in appropriations of funding for general programs.
3. A mark for identification; a distinguishing mark.
   • 1860, John Wharton, The Law Lexicon

     Money has no earmark.

   • 1959, Brunettie Burrow, Angels in White

     I saw in my patient one of the most forbidding men I have ever met. He had all the earmarks of a criminal.

Coordinate terms

• (US politics): phonemark

Translations

See also

• expenditure
• pork barrel

References

• http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?earmark