headmark

Galloway and Buchan, Lothian and Lochaber, are like foreign parts; yet you may choose a man from any of them, and, ten to one, he shall prove to have the headmark of a Scot.

Memories and Portraits 2005

This man bore a high reputation in his calling, and was, indeed, esteemed as a sort of Scottish Vidocq, who knew by headmark every filcher of a handkerchief between Caithness and the Border.

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 382, October 1847 Various

When he walked, it must be with a book in his pocket to beguile the way in case the nightingales were silent; and even along the streets of London, with so many pretty faces to be spied for and dignitaries to be saluted, his trail was marked by little debts "for wine, pictures, etc.," the true headmark of a life intolerant of any joyless passage.

Harvard Classics Volume 28 Essays English and American Various

He moves through the encampment of the ships, knowing every man by headmark, and estimating his capabilities to a buffet.

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 379, May, 1847 Various

When he walked, it must be with a book in his pocket to beguile the way in case the nightingales were silent; and even along the streets of London, with so many pretty faces to be spied for and dignitaries to be saluted, his trail was marked by little debts “for wine, pictures, etc., ” the true headmark of a life intolerant of any joyless passage.

Samuel Pepys 1909

The young ewe-milkers delighted, she says, to carry him about on their backs among the crags; and he was "very gleg (quick) at the uptake, and soon kenned every sheep and lamb by headmark as well as any of them."

Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Volume I (of 10) 1824

But, ye know the thing was absurd to suppose that we should know, any inkling about the matter, having never seen him or his daughter between the een before, and not kenning them by headmark; so, though we sympathized with him, as folks ought to do with a fellow-creature in affliction, we thought it best to hold our tongues, to see what might cast up better than he expected.

The Life of Mansie Wauch tailor in Dalkeith David Macbeth Moir 1824

But, ye know, the thing was absurd to suppose that we should know any inkling about the matter, having never seen him or his daughter between the een before, and not kenning them by headmark; so, though we sympathized with him, as folks ought to do with a fellow-creature in affliction, we thought it best to hold our tongues, to see what might cast up better than he expected.

The Life of Mansie Wauch Tailor in Dalkeith, written by himself David Macbeth Moir 1824

"An 'they write too, from yonder -- my uncle's woman writes -- that you can still tell 'em by headmark.

Actions and Reactions Rudyard Kipling 1900