Märque, n.
(märk), n. [Fr. marque, mark, sign, land-mark; lettre de marque, letter of marque, a commission with which the commandant of every armed vessel was obliged to be provided, under penalty of being considered a pirate or corsair. See MARK.]
Sense 1. (Law.) A license to pass the limits of a jurisdiction, or the boundary of a country, for the purpose of making reprisals.
Sense 2. A ship commissioned for making reprisals.
Letters of marque, letters of reprisal; a license or extraordinary commission granted by the supreme power of one state to its subjects, to make reprisals at sea on the subjects of another, under pretense of indemnification for injuries received.