Literary notes about hallmark (AI summary)
In literature, the word "hallmark" functions as a powerful metaphor for a distinctive quality or attribute that identifies and defines its subject. It can refer to an actual marked signature on an object, as when an angel marks a teapot [1], or evoke the inherent quality of character, like the rich tone that becomes the hallmark of gentility [2]. Authors extend the term to nature and art as well, suggesting that every leaf or cloud carries its own creative hallmark [3]. Moreover, "hallmark" is used to denote a signature trait of entire movements or genres—for instance, identifying the superficiality that marks the American novel [4].
- This teapot has for a hallmark an angel; a quaint sugar bowl of like design, also in this collection, shows a crown and bird.
— from Colonial Homes and Their Furnishings by Mary Harrod Northend - Her voice was low and rich, with a charming roundness that seemed the very hallmark of gentility.
— from Within the Law: From the Play of Bayard Veiller by Bayard Veiller - Nature does not make duplicates; her creative hallmark is upon every leaf and bee; upon every cliff and cloud and star.
— from Child and Country: A Book of the Younger Generation by Will Levington Comfort - It is this superficiality of the inferior man, it seems to me, that is the chief hallmark of the American novel.
— from Prejudices, Second Series by H. L. (Henry Louis) Mencken
