X marks the spot
Also found in: Acronyms, Wikipedia.
X marks the spot
This sign or mark (not necessarily an X) indicates the specific or exact location (of something). I drew an elaborate treasure map for my daughter's birthday, with X marking the spot where I've hidden her presents. If you look at this financial chart, X marks the spot across all of them where the company began to seriously falter.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
X marks the spot.
This is the exact spot. (Sometimes the speaker will draw an X in the spot while saying this.) This is where the rock struck my car—X marks the spot. Now, please move that table over here. Yes, right here—X marks the spot.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
X marks the spot
This mark shows the location, as in On the postcard, X marks the spot where we picked blueberries. Although the use of a cross or X is probably much older, this term was first recorded in 1813.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
X marks the spot
sent. This is the exact place! (Cliché.) This is where it happened. X marks the spot.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
X marks the spot
This mark shows the scene of the crime, the hiding place of a treasure, or some other special location. Although this term dates only from the nineteenth century, the use of a cross or the letter X as a special indicator is surely much older. The OED’s earliest citation is from a letter by Maria Edgeworth in 1813: “The three crosses X mark the three places where we were let in.” The term often appeared in romantic pirate stories in which hidden treasure marked on a map figured, as in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island (1883).
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer