earmark

noun

1. A mark made or tag attached to the ear of an animal (chiefly a livestock animal), generally to identify or indicate something about the animal, such as ownership, health or gestation status, etc.

   “Some mark them [sheep] vvith Raddle and make Ear-marks.”

2. (figuratively)A distinguishing or identifying mark or sign; specifically (archaic), a mark of ownership.

   “[H]e ſhoulde be dyſcryued by hys rounding and his eare marke: […]”

   “Mr. Bayes, many as proper a man as your ſelf march'd up Holborn for diſtinguiſhing betvvixt the VVealth and the Fanatick: and moreover let me tell you, Fanatick Money hath no Ear-mark.”

   “VVe are likevviſe all agreed that if the goods had remain in ſpecie unſold in the bankrupt's hands at the time of the bankruptcy, the plaintiffs might have recovered them in an action of trover, and that they could not be applied to pay the bankrupt's debts, […] [W]hy are goods conſidered ſtill as the ovvners? becauſe they remain in ſpecie, and ſo may be diſtinguiſhed from the reſt of the bankrupt's eſtate. But as money has no earmark, it cannot be diſtinguiſhed.”

   “I am inclined to think that his most besetting sin in style,—the little earmark by which he is most conspicuous,—is a certain affected familiarity.”

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

3. (figuratively)An act of designating certain funds to be used for a specific purpose.
4. (US, figuratively)Specifically, a designation by the Congress that certain federal funds be appropriated for a specific project.

verb

1. (transitive)To make a mark or attach a tag to the ear of (an animal, chiefly a livestock animal), generally to identify or indicate something about the animal, such as ownership.
2. (figuratively, transitive)To put a distinguishing or identifying mark or sign on (something); to make (something) distinctive or identifiable.
3. (figuratively, transitive)To designate or set aside (someone or something) for a particular purpose; to allocate.

   “In barely a decade, the War on Drugs went from being a political slogan to an actual war. Now that police departments were suddenly flush with cash and military equipment earmarked for the drug war, they needed to make use of their new resources.”

   “But even I draw the line at "doing crunches" in designer clothes. Fashion sneakers are for swanking around the shops, not for running in. And so, like everyone else, I wear grotty old tracksuits earmarked for Oxfam, and tragic free festival T-shirts that give away my age.”

4. (figuratively, transitive)Chiefly followed by for: to designate (certain funds) to be used for a specific purpose.

   “You can donate to the organization as a whole, or you can earmark your contribution for a particular project.”

   “A widening of the M4 had long been mooted, and the Welsh Government had even earmarked most of the required £1.6bn funding for a new 14-mile, six-lane section around Newport. Then, in the face of opposition from environmentalists, came a realisation that similar road schemes across the world tend merely to encourage greater car use and therefore soon prove ineffective in solving the original problem.”

5. (UK, figuratively, transitive)Chiefly followed by for: to designate (certain funds) to be used for a specific purpose.
6. (US, figuratively, transitive)Chiefly followed by for: to designate (certain funds) to be used for a specific purpose.