Marble Definition

märbəl

marbled, marbles, marbling

noun

A hard, crystalline or granular, metamorphic limestone, white or variously colored and sometimes streaked or mottled, which can take a high polish: it is much used in building and sculpture.

Webster's New World

A piece or slab of this stone, used as a monument, inscribed record, etc.

Webster's New World

A piece of sculpture in marble.

Webster's New World

A sculpture made from this rock.

American Heritage

Anything resembling or suggesting marble in hardness, smoothness, coldness, coloration, etc.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

verb

To stain or color (book edges) to look mottled or streaked like marble.

Webster's New World

To cause (something to have) the streaked or swirled appearance of certain types of marble, for example by mixing viscous ingredients incompletely, or by applying paint or other colorants unevenly.

Wiktionary

(intransitive) To get the streaked or swirled appearance of certain types of marble, for example due to the incomplete mixing of viscous ingredients, or the uneven application of paint or other colorants.

Wiktionary

To cause meat, usually beef, pork, or lamb, to be interlaced with fat so that its appearance resembles that of marble.

Wiktionary

(intransitive, of meat, especially beef) To become interlaced with fat.

Wiktionary

adjective

Composed of metamorphic rock.

A marble hearth.

American Heritage

Made or consisting of marble.

Webster's New World

Resembling metamorphic rock in consistency, texture, venation, color, or coldness.

American Heritage

Like marble in some way; hard, cold, smooth, white, etc., or streaked, mottled, etc.

Webster's New World

(figuratively) Cold; hard; unfeeling.

A marble heart.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

Synonyms:
alabaster
marmoreal

idiom

go for all the marbles

to take a great risk in the hope of a great gain

Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Marble

Noun

Singular:

marble

Plural:

marbles

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Marble

go for all the marbles

Origin of Marble

From Anglo-Norman and Old French marbre, from Latin marmor, from Ancient Greek μάρμαρος (marmaros), perhaps related to μαρμάρεος (marmareos, “gleaming"). Much of the early classical marble came from the 'Marmaris' sea above the Aegean. The forms from French replaced Old English marma, which had previously been borrowed from Latin.

From Wiktionary
Middle English marbre, marble from Old French marbre from Latin marmor from Greek marmaros of unknown origin

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition