markers

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of marker.

   Surveyors placed stone markers along the new boundary line.

   The teacher handed out colored markers for the poster project.

   Note

   One spelling does double duty here. As a noun plural it gathers every kind of marker at once: felt-tipped pens, billiard scorekeepers, paintball guns, the X on a stage floor where an actor stands. The same letters also serve the present-tense verb, so the sentence decides. In "the markers dried out" it is a noun, and in "she markers the lid" it is a verb.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of marker.

   Note

   A noun turned verb: to marker something is to write on it with a marker pen. This form goes with a singular subject (he markers, she markers, it markers), while I, you, we and they take bare marker. Plain marks says nothing about the instrument, but markers names it, and that is its whole point. The spelling is shared with the plural noun.

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