marksman

[Victor Steinbok]

OED WOTD today is "marksman". Most of the article is pretty standard
stuff. But the very first entry strikes me as interesting:

> †1. A person who is regarded as a target or victim. /Obs./ /rare/.

The only example is from 1637.

Yet, for all its rarity, it seems to be directly related to "mark"
(supposedly for "marked man")--a target of a con game, scam, swindle or
simply a robbery or other crime (the target of an assassin?). (OED mark
n.1 VI. 25.a. or b.)

VS-)

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