Marbles - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

mar·ble

Audio Help [mahr-buh

l] Pronunciation Key noun, adjective, verb, -bled, -bling.

–noun

1.	metamorphosed limestone, consisting chiefly of recrystallized calcite or dolomite, capable of taking a high polish, occurring in a wide range of colors and variegations and used in sculpture and architecture.

2.	any variety of this stone: Carrara marble.

3.	an object made of or carved from this stone, esp. a sculpture: Renaissance marbles.

4.	a piece of this stone: the fallen marbles of Roman ruins.

5.	(not in technical use) any of various breccias or other stones that take a high polish and show a variegated pattern.

6.	a marbled appearance or pattern; marbling: The woodwork had a greenish marble.

7.	anything resembling marble in hardness, coldness, smoothness, etc.: a brow of marble.

8.	something lacking in warmth or feeling.

9.	a little ball made of stone, baked clay, glass, porcelain, agate, or steel, esp. for use in games.

10.	marbles, (used with a singular verb) a game for children in which a marble is propelled by the thumb to hit another marble so as to drive it out of a circle drawn or scratched on the ground.

11.	marbles, Slang. normal rational faculties; sanity; wits; common sense: to have all one's marbles; to lose one's marbles.

–adjective

12.	consisting or made of marble.

13.	like marble, as in hardness, coldness, smoothness, etc.

14.	lacking in warmth, compassion, or sympathy: marble heart.

15.	of variegated or mottled color.

–verb (used with object)

16.	to color or stain like variegated marble.

17.	to apply a decorative pattern to (paper, the edges of a book, etc.) by transferring oil pigments floating on water.

[Origin: 1150–1200; ME marbel, dissimilated var. of OE marmel (in marmelstān marble stone) < L marmor < Gk mármaros, akin to marmaírein to sparkle

]

—Related forms

marbler, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Marbles

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

mar·ble Audio Help (mär'bəl) Pronunciation Key
n.

1. A metamorphic rock formed by alteration of limestone or dolomite, often irregularly colored by impurities, and used especially in architecture and sculpture.
2. A piece of this rock.
3. A sculpture made from this rock.
4. A small hard ball, usually of glass, used in children's games.
5. marbles (used with a sing. verb) Any of various games played with marbles.
Something resembling or suggesting metamorphic rock, as in being very hard, smooth, or cold: a heart of marble; a brow of marble.
Games
1. A small hard ball, usually of glass, used in children's games.
2. marbles (used with a sing. verb) Any of various games played with marbles.
marbles (used with a sing. verb) Slang Common sense; sanity: completely lost his marbles after the stock market crash.
Marbling.

tr.v. mar·bled, mar·bling, mar·bles
To mottle and streak (paper, for example) with colors and veins in imitation of marble.

adj.

Composed of metamorphic rock: a marble hearth.
Resembling metamorphic rock in consistency, texture, venation, color, or coldness.

[Middle English, from Old French marbre, from Latin marmor, from Greek marmaros.]

mar'bly adj.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

marbles
noun
1.	a children's game played with little balls made of a hard substance (as glass)
2.	the basic human power of intelligent thought and perception; "he used his wits to get ahead"; "I was scared out of my wits"; "he still had all his marbles and was in full possession of a lively mind" [syn: wits]

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
ˈmarbles noun singular

any of several games played with marbles
Example: The boys were playing marbles.

Arabic:	ألعاب بالكُكَل المَرْمَرِيَّه
Chinese (Simplified):	打弹子游戏
Chinese (Traditional):	打彈子遊戲
Czech:	hra v kuličky
Danish:	kuglespil
Dutch:	knikkers
Estonian:	nipsumäng
Finnish:	marmorikuulapeli
French:	billes
German:	das Murmelspiel
Greek:	βόλοι (παιχνίδι)
Hungarian:	golyózás
Icelandic:	kúluspil
Indonesian:	kelereng
Italian:	biglie*

Japanese:	ビー玉遊び
Latvian:	stikla bumbiņu spēle
Lithuanian:	žaidimas stiklo rutuliukais
Norwegian:	kulespill
Polish:	kulki
Portuguese (Brazil):	jogo de gude
Portuguese (Portugal):	jogo do berlinde
Romanian:	(joc de) bile
Russian:	игра в шарики
Slovak:	guľôčky
Slovenian:	frnikolanje
Spanish:	canicas
Swedish:	kulspel
Turkish:	misket, *bilye oyunu

See also: marbled, marble

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

marble Audio Help (mär'bəl) Pronunciation Key
A metamorphic rock consisting primarily of calcite and dolomite. Marble is formed by the metamorphism of limestone. Although it is usually white to gray in color, it often has irregularly colored marks due to the presence of impurities such as silica and clay. Marble is used especially in sculpture and as a building material.

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

marbles jargon
(From the mainstream "lost his marbles") The minimum needed to build your way further up some hierarchy of tools or abstractions. After a bad system crash, you need to determine if the machine has enough marbles to come up on its own, or enough marbles to allow a rebuild from backups, or if you need to rebuild from scratch. "This compiler doesn't even have enough marbles to compile hello, world."
[The Jargon File]
(1998-05-21)

Jargon File - Cite This Source - Share This

marbles

pl.n. [from mainstream "lost all his/her marbles"] The minimum needed to build your way further up some hierarchy of tools or abstractions. After a bad system crash, you need to determine if the machine has enough marbles to come up on its own, or enough marbles to allow a rebuild from backups, or if you need to rebuild from scratch. "This compiler doesn't even have enough marbles to compile hello world."

Jargon File 4.2.0

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