English

Noun

benchmark ‎(plural benchmarks)

1. A standard by which something is evaluated or measured.
   • 2013, Marina Hyde, Is the pope Catholic? (in The Guardian, 20 September 2013)

     Is the pope Catholic? Forgive the posing of a question that is usually rhetorical, the absolute benchmark of certainty, and traditionally regarded as even more settled than the one pertaining to the lavatorial arrangements of bears.

2. A surveyor's mark made on some stationary object and shown on a map; used as a reference point.
3. (computing) A computer program that is executed to assess the performance of the runtime environment.

Translations

Verb

benchmark ‎(third-person singular simple present benchmarks, present participle benchmarking, simple past and past participle benchmarked)

1. (transitive) To measure the performance of (an item) relative to another similar item in an impartial scientific manner.

References

1. ↑ Benchmark etymology on etymologie.info