| 释义 |
▪ I. marble, n.|ˈmɑːb(ə)l|
Forms: α. 3–7 marbre, 4 maubre, 5 marbir, 6 marber, marbyr. β. 3–5 marbel, 4 merbel, -ul, 4–5 marbil, 4–6 marbyl, -ul, 5 marboll, -ole, -elle, -ylle, -ulle, -ille, merbyl, 5–6 marbill, -yll, -ull, 6 marbell, 4– marble.
[ME. marbre, marble, a. F. marbre, (OF. rarely marble, malbre by dissimilation) = Pr. marme-s, Sp. mármol, Pg. marmore, It. marmo, Romanian marmure:—L. marmor, ad. or cogn. w. Gr. µάρµαρος shining stone, marble (prob. orig. an adj. ‘sparkling’, whence µαρµαίρειν to sparkle).
The L. word was adopted early into the Teut. langs.: OE. marma (in comb. marm-), OHG. marmul (MHG., mod.G. marmel, also marmor), MDu. marmer, marmel, more commonly marber, marbel from Fr. (mod.Du. marmer marble, marmel ‘marble’ to play with), ON. marmari.]
I. The simple word.
1. a. Limestone in a crystalline (or, less strictly, also a granular) state and capable of taking a polish. There are many varieties of this stone (see b), which is much used in sculpture and architecture.
When used without qualification, the word suggests either the pure white varieties commonly employed in sculpture (hence often referred to as a type of whiteness), or those with mottled or variegated surface (cf. senses 5, 7 e).
αc1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 249/315 In one toumbe of Marbre he was i-leid. 1390Gower Conf. II. 124 A tumbe riche..Of marbre and ek of jaspre stones. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. xxv, A great bridge of stone of Marbre. a1693Urquhart's Rabelais iii. xxviii. 227 The most durable Marbre or Porphyr.
β [c1200: see marble-stone.] c1320Sir Beues 4609 A faire chapel of marbel fin. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 341 Of marble is þe stone, & purtreied þer he lies. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) iii. 9 All þe pilers er of marbill. 1474Caxton Chesse 92 Also colde and harde as marbyll. 1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 25 Ouer this ryuer is a very fayre bridge of marble. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 162 All the pauement is most beautifull of ingrauen Marble. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xv, From the portico they passed a noble hall to a staircase of marble. 1857Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art i. 46 Marble..lasts quite as long as granite, and is much softer to work.
Proverb.1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 50 Hee plyes her hard, and much Raine weares the Marble.
b. With qualifying word: (a) an adj. denoting colour or appearance, e.g. black marble, fibrous marble, green (12 d), grey, red (17 e), variegated marble, white marble; (b) a proper name denoting the locality in which it is found, e.g. African marble, Carrara marble, Derby(shire) marble, Egyptian marble, English marble, Genoese marble, Italian marble, Kilkenny marble, Parian, Pentelican marble, Portsoy marble, Purbeck marble; (c) applied to substances resembling or made to imitate marble, as † brimstone marble, a preparation of brimstone in imitation of marble; metallic marble, native sulphate of barium (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1889). See also breccia, brocatello, cipolin, fire (B. 5), forest (n. 5), landscape (n. 5), lumachella, madrepore (4), onyx (4), ruin, serpentine, shell, verd antique marble.
(a)a1300Cursor M. 8288 Vnder þis tre..A stapul was o marbul grai. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1035 A gate of Marbul whit. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. i, A harde slipperie rocke of black marber. 1624Capt. Smith Virginia iv. 126 No place hath more white and blew Marble than here. 1659Howell Lex., Vocab. xxvi, The Marble gentle, viz. the whitest hard marble..Serpentine or streaked Marble [etc.]. a1728Woodward Fossils (1729) i. I. 21 Black Marble.
(b)1681Grew Musæum iii. vi. 316 Two pieces of ægyptian Marble. Ibid., A Piece of the worst sort of Cornish Marble, used for Lime. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., Derbyshire Marble is variously clouded and diversified with brown. a1728Woodward Fossils (1729) i. I. 20 The white Genoese Marble. Ibid. 25 The common white Carara marble. 1891T. Hardy Tess (1900) 8/1 With your effigies under Purbeck-marble canopies.
(c)1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Brimstone, Brimstone Marble, a preparation of brimstone in imitation of marble.
c. A kind or variety of marble.
1640Wilkins New Planet ii. (1672) 119 That this rocky Substance is a Loadstone, rather than a Jaspis, Adamant, Marble, or any other. 1813Bakewell Introd. Geol. (1815) 87 Very beautiful marbles occur [in England] which will receive a high polish. 1879Rutley Study Rocks iii. 20 Limestones..capable of receiving a polish are called marbles.
d. Taken as a type of something hard, inflexible, durable, or smooth.
1586Whitney Choice of Emblems 183 In marble harde our harmes wee alwayes graue. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. ii. iii. 144 The milke thou suck'st from her did turne to Marble. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 638 Writing all injuries in marble. 1620Swetnam arraigned G 4 b, Can you behold this sacred Cabinet,..And not let fall a teare: you are vnkind. Not Marble but would wet at such a sight. 1812Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) I. vi. 219 Sir Charles Grandison..is a man of marble, or rather a man of snow. 1818Shelley Rosal. & Helen 1252 The liquid marble of the windless lake. 1886M. E. Braddon One Thing Needful ix, She had done all in her power to deter Clarice;..but Clarice had made up her mind to be a marchioness, and she was marble.
e. The stone as being the material of which a tomb or tombstone is made. poet. (Cf. 2 b.)
1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 434 When I am forgotten..And sleepe in dull cold Marble. 1757Gray Epit. on Mrs. Jane Clerke 1 Lo! where the silent marble weeps, A friend, a wife, a mother sleeps. 1850Tennyson In Mem. lxvi[i], Thy marble bright in dark appears.
2. a. A piece, block, or slab of marble; a marble monument; † a marble vessel. Also fig.
c1290Becket 2118 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 167 Þe point of is swerd brak In þe Marbre ato. c1380Sir Ferumb. 5701 To a gret holw marbre was he broȝt,..Whych was wonyd beo fillid wyþ wyn. 1590Spenser F.Q. iii. v. 33 The soveraine weede betwixt two marbles plaine Shee pownded small. 1644Evelyn Dairy 22 Oct., The vacant stayrecase, marbles, statues [etc.]. 1715Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) II. 62 An Inscription on a Marble. 1865Kingsley Herew. x, The blood stained marbles of the Amphitheatre.
†b. A marble tomb or tombstone. Obs.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 230 At Westmynstere he lis toumbed richely, In a marble bis of him is mad story. a1533Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) Ii ij b, In the felde of Elinos, vnder a marble, is the pouders of Sysifo Seteno. 1640H. Glapthorne Ladies Priviledge iv. Plays 1874 II. 141 My Ancestors, whose dust Would 'a broke through the Marbles, to revenge To me this fatall infamy. 1730Pope Epit. Fenton 1 This modest Stone, what few vain Marbles can, May truly say, here lies an honest Man.
c. Antiq. (pl.) Applied, with specific qualification, to certain collections of sculptures, etc.; e.g.
Arundel marbles, Arundelian marbles, or Oxford marbles, a collection of sculptures and inscribed stones made by the Earl of Arundel (died 1646) and presented to the University of Oxford. Elgin marbles, a collection (now in the British Museum) of ancient sculptures from the Parthenon, which was brought to England by Lord Elgin and sold by him to the nation in 1816.
[1624J. Selden (title) Marmora Arundeliana.] 1667Evelyn Diary 19 Sept., To London with Mr. Hen. Howard of Norfolk, of whom I obtain'd the gift of his Arundelian Marbles. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., Arundel Marbles,..or the Oxford Marbles. 1817Keats (title) On the Elgin Marbles. 1833Penny Cycl. I. 142/1 The æginetan, added to the Athenian, and Phigaleian marbles which we possess in the British Museum, would have formed a complete specimen of Grecian sculpture, as applied to the decoration of temples.
3. techn. [= F. marbre.]
a. A slab of marble used for grinding paints on;
b. A printer's imposing-stone (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875);
c. = marver.
1671Salmon Syn. Med. iii. 474 The reducing of any thing into a fine powder, by grynding it on a Marble. 1698Phil. Trans. XX. 466 Which they grind upon a Marble, such as Painters use. 1745De Coetlogon Univ. Hist. Arts & Sci. II. 3 To give it [the glass] a Polish, we roll it to and fro on a Stone, or Marble.
4. a. [= G., Du. marmel.] A little ball (varying from about ½ inch to an inch in diameter), originally made of marble, now usually of baked clay, porcelain, glass, or composition, used in a children's game; hence in pl. the game itself. Also a similar ball (e.g. of glass) used in other games.
In playing the game, a number of marbles are arranged in a ring (or sometimes in a row), from which the players attempt to dislodge them by ‘shooting’ a marble at them with the finger and thumb.
1694–5J. Houghton Collect. Husb. & Trade No. 189 (1727) II. 29 The next are marbles for boys to play with. 1709Steele Tatler No. 112 ⁋3 A Game of Marbles, not unlike our modern Taw. 1792S. Rogers Pleas. Mem. i. 142 On yon gray stone..we shot the marble thro' the ring. 1866R. Chambers Ess. Ser. ii. 3 There was the floor on which..I had played at marbles, a pattern in the carpet serving as the ring. 1885New Bk. Sports 301 Marbles is not the popular game it once was.
b. Phr. to pass in one's marble and varr., to die, to give up. Austral. slang.
1908Austral. Mag. 1 Nov. 1250 Instead of dying you can ‘chuck a seven’, ‘pass in your marble’, or ‘peg out’. 1918A. Wright Over Odds 102 ‘I suppose the old pot knew y'old man before he passed in his marble,’ ventured Dick. 1924Truth 27 Apr. 6 Throw in the marble, to relinquish. 1951D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 304 I'm not going to pass in my marble just yet.
c. Phr. to make one's marble good: to make a good impression (on a person), to ingratiate oneself, to improve one's position. N.Z. and Austral. slang.
Quot. 1938 illustrates a similiar S. Afr. use.
c1926‘Mixer’ Transport Workers' Song Bk. 31 Some tap the boss before they join,..By this they make their marble good. 1938A. M. Brown Let. 15 Apr. in Partridge Dict. Slang (1961) Suppl. 1179/1 A word I have heard used in the Cape [Province], mostly from people attending Rhodes University College, Grahamstown, is marble. Examples are: ‘His marble is high’—he is ‘well-in’ (with such-and-such a person). ‘He is polishing his marble with so-and-so’ = he is trying to ingratiate himself. 1944J. H. Fullarton Troop Target iii. 26, I was making my marble good. 1947D. M. Davin Gorse blooms Pale 206 The crowd..wanted to see if he could make his marble good with us. 1963D. Crick Martin Place 223 Take my tip, if you wanter make your marble good: say nothing.
†5.
a. A mottled or dappled colour resembling that of variegated marble; hence, a cloth of such a colour. (Cf. 7 e.) Obs.
1520Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 274 Pro xiij virg. panni lanei coloris marble. 1541–2Act 33 Hen. VIII, c. 18 Kerseies..of the colours of black, marble, russet, and white. 1549Act. 3 & 4 Edw. VI, c. 2 §1 Russets, Musters, Marbles, Grayes, Royes, and suche lyke colors. 1555Richmond Wills (Surtees) 86 A yard of marble xxd. 1720Strype Stow's Surv. Lond. (1754) I. i. xxix. 297/1 In a livery of grey Marble.
b. Bookbinding. The marbled pattern or paper used in ornamenting books.
1699Wanley in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 277 In knowing what sort of Paper is in use,..or to please myself..with looking on the fine colors, marbles, &c. 1817Dibdin Bibliogr. Decameron II. 532 In lieu of gilt, you may..order marble coloured edges: but gilt upon the marble—oh! 'tis the very luxury—the ‘ne plus ultra’ of the bibliopegistic art! 1823Bookbinder's Compl. Instructor 28 Common Marble. Ibid. 29 Transparent Marble. Ibid. 30 Egyptian Marble..Purple Marble..Stone Marble. Ibid. 31 Rice Marble..Chinese Marble..Red Marble. Ibid. 32 Wainscoat Marble.
c. (See quots.) Also marble crust.
1924Tourist Winter Sports No. 12/2 Marble, a snow⁓crust formed by alternate freezing and thawing. Found on Southern slopes. 1948P. Lunn Ski-ing Primer xviii. 90 Marble crust is so slippery that it is almost impossible to obtain a purchase on it with the skis. 1969M. Heller Ski xiv. 185 Marble crust looks like its name and is formed by the wind. The snow is dull and extremely hard... It is very common at high altitude in early winter.
6. pl.
†a. French marbles: syphilis. Obs.[? Corruption of F. morbilles ‘the small pockes’ (Cotgr.).] a1592Greene Thieves falling out (1615) C 3, Looke into the Spittles, and Hospitalles, there you shall see men diseased of the French Marbles.
†b. As transl. of L. marmor: A stony concretion in the joints of a horse. Obs.
1748tr. Renatus' Distemp. Horses 190 Oftentimes in the knees or joints there arises either a Phlegmon, or Marbles, or Puffs or Wind-galls.
c. As (false) transl. of F. meubles: furniture, movables, personal effects; ‘the goods’. slang.
1864Hotten Slang Dict. 176 Marbles, furniture, movables; ‘money and marbles’, cash and personal effects. 1867Trollope Claverings II. vi. 67 She won't get any money from me, unless I get the marbles for it. 1896Farmer & Henley Slang IV. 280/1 Marbles,..furniture; moveables. Money and marbles = cash and effects. [From Fr. meubles]. Hence, any substantial quid pro quó. English synonyms. Belongings; household gods; lares and penates; moveables; sticks; sprats, slows; traps. 1923J. Manchon Le Slang 190 Marbles,..des meubles (corrupt. du français). 1937Partridge Dict. Slang 509 Marbles, furniture; moveables: somewhat low..; ob[solescent].
d. pl. Mental faculties; brains; common sense. slang (orig. N. Amer.).
1927Amer. Speech II. 360 Marbles, doesn't have all his (verb phrase), mentally deficient. ‘There goes a man who doesn't have all his marbles.’ 1935A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 75/1 Marbles, the brain. 1957M. Millar Soft Talkers i. 7 She's a fattish little hausfrau with some of her marbles missing. 1958Wodehouse Cocktail Time xvii. 148 Do men who have got all their marbles go swimming in lakes with their clothes on? 1967M. L. Roby Cat & Mouse i. 19 He ain't right in the head. Got a few marbles missing. 1969J. Wainwright Take-Over Men i. 8 You lost your goddam' marbles? You gone completely crazy, you nutty slob? 1973Ottawa Jrnl. 6 Feb. 9/4 ‘I still have most of my marbles,’ he said cheerfully. 1973R. Parkes Guardians xi. 204 Crazy bastard... I think he's blown his marbles.
II. Attrib. and Comb.
7. attrib. passing into adj.
a. Made or consisting of marble. (For the corresp. parasynthetic adjs. see 8 c.) Also, like that of marble.
13..Coer de L. 6182 He leet make a marbyl ymage. 1382Wyclif Esther i. 6 Thei weren vnderset with marbil pileeris. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 8 Suche stately dwellinges and marble floores. 1646Evelyn Diary (? Apr.), A marble Madona like a Colosse. 1747H. Glasse Cookery ix. 78 Take a Quart of Almonds..and beat them in a Marble Mortar. 1852M. Arnold Empedocles ii. 88 Her flush'd feet glow on the marble floor.
b. White, hard, cold, or rigid like marble. (Rarely used predicatively.) Hence in parasynthetic adjs. marble-breasted, marble-hearted, marble-minded.
1591Florio 2nd Fruites 43 P. Oh filthie..fashion of some Englishmen, to ride with these hard, straight, and little saddles. T. They are English toyes, to vse..such marble pinching sadles [Ital. queste selle marmoree]. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iii. i. 38 Her teares will pierce into a Marble heart. 1601― Twel. N. v. i. 127 The Marble-brested Tirant. 1605― Lear i. iv. 283 Ingratitude! thou Marble-hearted Fiend. 1611― Wint. T. v. ii. 98 Who was most Marble, there changed colour. 1612Drayton Poly-olb. ii. 94 Her Marble-minded breast. a1618Sylvester Wood-mans Bear lxxv. (Grosart) II. 312 Moan I must for never was Marble-hearted Mermidon But would moan [etc.]. 1675South 12 Serm. (1692) 570 His Marble, obdurate Heart. 1784Unfortunate Sensibility I. 175 What is virtue? is it a certain marble-mindedness, the elder brother of insensibility. 1812Byron Ch. Har. ii. xxxiii, That seeming marble-heart. 1817Shelley Rev. Islam vi. xxxiii, Her marble brow, and eager lips. 1818― Rosal. & Helen 186 His fancy on that spring would float, If some invisible breeze might stir Its marble calm. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) II. 102 Under the marble exterior of Greek literature was concealed a soul thrilling with spiritual emotion. 1927R. Graves Poems (1914–26) 203 Not marble-hearted but your own true love.
c. Enduring as marble, or as if carved in marble.
1596C. Fitzgeffrey Sir F. Drake (1881) 27 Cease to eternize in your marble verse The fals of fortune-tossed Venerists. 1682Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. iii. §17 They write not their obligations in sandy but marble memories.
d. poet. Smooth as marble. (Cf. L. marmoreum æquor.) Hence marble-faced adj.
1557–8T. Phaer æneid vi. R iij b, All what marblefacyd seas conteines of monstrous fries. 1667Milton P.L. iii. 564 Through the pure marble Air.
e. Of a variegated or mottled colour († occas. used predicatively); marbled. † Also, made of cloth or stuff of such a colour (see 5). Hence marble-coloured, marble-covered, marble-edged adjs.
c1430Two Cookery-bks. 29 Caste þer-to Saunderys & Safroun, & loke it be marbylle [Ashmole MS. marbely]. Ibid. 34 Take a lytyl Saunderys & a lytyl Safroun, & make it a marbyl coloure. 1539Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 91 To William Cay my marbill jacket. 1545Ibid. 230 My marbell colered cote. 1591Lanc. Wills III. 54, I geve Willm Cooke my marble hose. 1703Lond. Gaz. No. 3930/4 An Almanack..with a Marble Vellum Cover. 1705Ibid. No. 4108/3, 77 half Chests of Marble-Soap. 1808H. More Cœlebs II. 74 Countless marble-covered octavos. 1811Self Instructor 120, 3-thread fine marble stockings. 1817Dibdin Bibliogr. Decameron II. 533 The peau de veau of the French, with gilt upon marble edges! 1876Rock Text. Fabr. vii. 76 Marble silk had a weft of several colours so woven as to make the whole web look like marble.
† f. marble colours: used fig. by Drummond to express ostentatious splendour. Obs.
1613Drummond of Hawthornden Cypress Grove Wks. (1711) 118 The marble colours of..funeral pomp. a1649― Hist. Jas. III, ibid. 41 The marble colours of false greatness.
8. Obvious combinations.
a. attributive (of, pertaining to, or concerned with marble), as marble chips, † marble grit, marble mart, marble-mason, marble-mill, marble-quarry, marble saw; (used in the game of marbles) as marble-ring;
b. objective, as marble-cutter, marble-polisher, marble-worker;
c. parasynthetic and instrumental, as marble-arched, marble-built, marble-chequered, marble-flagged, marble-imaged, marble-paved, marble-piled, marble-pillared, marble-ribbed, marble-sculptured, marble-slabbed, marble-stoppered adjs.;
d. similative, as marble-constant, marble-hard, marble-like, marble-looking, marble-still, marble-tall, marble-white adjs.; marble-wise adv.
1636G. Sandys Paraphr. Ps. viii. 9 The *marble-arched Skie.
1791W. Blake French Revolution 1, in Compl. Writings (1972) 138 Shall this *marble built heaven become a clay cottage..?
1879F. W. Robinson Coward Consc. i. iv, Across the *marble-chequered hall.
1926H. Crane Let. 19 Aug. (1965) 273 Examining pebbles and cinders and *marble chips through the telescope. 1946Happy Landings (Air Ministry) July 1/2 White stone or marble chips spread out and rolled into the macadam surface form an excellent substitute.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. v. ii. 240 Now from head to foote I am *Marble constant.
1611Cotgr., Marbrier. A *marble-cutter.
1889W. B. Yeats Wanderings of Oisin 53 A *marble-flagged, pillared room.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. i. 405 With *marbul greet ygrounde & mixt with lyme.
a1618Sylvester Elegy H. Parvis (Grosart) II. 328 In his stone-breast no pitie moves relenting, Rough and remorselesse, more then *marble-hard.
1832[R. Cattermole] Beckett, etc. 179 With all thy high and *marble-imaged line.
1530Palsgr. 318/1 *Marbylyke, of the coloure of marbyll. 1854J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon (1855) I. ix. 163 He could impress a marble-like immovableness upon his features.
1846De Quincey Antigone Wks. 1863 VIII. 221 The unchanging expression in the *marble-looking mask.
1818Byron Ch. Har. iv. l, The paltry jargon of the *marble mart.
1816J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 808 The plasterers, *marble-masons, and other artisans who use this article.
1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 58 Sawing comprehends every species of mill..such as..*marble-mills.
1812Byron Ch. Har. ii. lxii, In *marble-paved pavilion.
1777Warton Poems 45 What though no *marble-piled bust Adorn his desolated dust.
1754Armstrong Forced Marr. v. iv. Misc. (1770) II. 110 This *marble-pillar'd castle.
1756Burke Subl. & B. Introd., Wks. I. 113 In the question about the tables, the *marble-polisher will unquestionably determine the most accurately.
1887J. C. Harris Free Joe, etc. (1888) 127 To invest money in Georgia *marble-quarries.
1820Shelley Tower of Famine 11 Each *marble-ribbed roof.
1821Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 5 The ‘I spy’, ‘halloo’, and the *marble-ring.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 801 The *marble saw is a thin plate of soft iron, continually supplied..with water and the sharpest sand. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 1393/1 Marble-Saw. 1890Cent. Dict., Marble-saw,..a machine for cutting marble... Such machines will cut a block of marble into several slabs simultaneously, or can be arranged to cut out pyramidal blocks, or to shape a cylinder or a frustum of a cone.
1844Mrs. Browning Brown Rosary iii. xii, He knelt like a child *marble-sculptured and white.
1864Harper's Mag. Dec. 40/1, I..had a snug *marble-slabbed brick house. 1933‘R. Crompton’ William—the Rebel viii. 162 Lay his catch upon the marble-slabbed hat-stand in the hall of the inn.
1904W. de la Mare Henry Brocken xiii. 168 He stood, thus, *marble-still.
1972Country Life 30 Nov. 1481/3 The screw-topped or *marble-stoppered lemonade bottles of long ago.
1938Belloc Sonnets & Verse 196 The Islands have received it, *marble-tall.
1877A. B. Edwards Up Nile xxii. 720 The quarried cliffs of Toora, *marble-white.
1687Miege Fr. Eng. Dict. s.v., To marble Paper, to paint it *marble-wise with several Colours.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 1393/2 *Marble-worker's Files.
9. Special comb.: marble bone Path. [tr. G. marmorknochen], (a) (also pl.) = osteopetrosis; also called marble bone(s) disease; (b) an affected bone in a person with osteopetrosis; † marble butterfly, ? = marbled white; marble cake orig. U.S., a cake made of light and dark sponge, having a mottled appearance suggestive of marble; † marble-crab, a crab having a marbled or mottled shell; † marble dew, some imaginary antaphrodisiac; † marble-flint, ? flint having a mottled appearance; marble gall, a gall made by the insect Cynips Kollari; marble leg, ‘the pale shining leg of Phlegmasia dolens’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.); marble orchard U.S. slang, a cemetery; marble-paper, paper coloured in imitation of marble; marble paste, a white porcelain paste used for casts of statues (in recent Dicts.: a transl. of F. pâte de marbre); marble-player, marbles-player, one who plays the game of marbles; marble seal, Phoca fetida; marble-top usu. attrib., designating a piece of furniture the top of which is covered with marble; also marble-topped adj.; marble town U.S. slang = marble orchard; marble veal (Cookery), potted veal interspersed with lumps of tongue, having a mottled surface when cut; marble-wood, (a) see quot. 1753; (b) a large East Indian tree, Diospyros Kurzii, having a variegated wood (Cent. Dict.); (c) an Australian tree, Olea paniculata, having mottled timber (Morris Austral Eng.).
1922Arch. Surg. V. 462 In 1921, Schultz discussed the nature of the disease of *marble bones (Albers–Schönberg). 1922Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 2 Dec. 1955/2 A patient..was found, on roentgen-ray examination, to have a pathologic fracture as the result of a rather obscure bone condition which has been termed osteosclerosis fragilis generalisata, Marmorknochen (marble bone), or Albers–Schönberg disease. 1947Arch. Path. XLIII. 75 Marble bone disease is due to..an unknown agent which damages the bone-forming blastema at the beginning of the second period of development of each individual bone. Ibid. 73 Fractures in marble bones, for the most part, do not splinter. 1961R. D. Baker Essent. Path. xxi. 560 In osteopetrosis (Albers–Schönberg's disease; marble bones) the bones are abnormally hard and thick, but also easily fractured. 1973Forfar & Arneil Textbk. Paediatrics xxiii. 1525/1 (heading) Albers–Schonberg disease (osteopetrosis, marble bones disease).
1749B. Wilkes Eng. Moths & Butterflies 52 The Marmoris, or *Marble-Butterfly. 1796Nemnich Polygl. Lex. Nat. Hist., Marble-butterfly. Pap. Galathea. The black-eyed Marble butterfly. Papilio Semele.
1871Mrs. T. J. V. Owen Illinois Cook Bk. 202 *Marble Cake... White part... Three teacupsful white sugar,..Dark part... Three teacupsful brown sugar, One teacupful molasses, [etc.]. 1878N. A. Donnelley Lakeside Cook Bk. 29/1 Marble Cake. 1903K. D. Wiggin Rebecca xxvi. 290 She began to stir the marble cake. 1971M. McCarthy Birds of America 74 My husband used to like a marble cake.
1668Charleton Onomast. Zoicon 176 Cancer..Marmoratus sive Varius (quod testa tegitur..maculis viridibus, cæruleis, albis, nigris, cinereis..), the *Marble Crab.
a1621Beaum. & Fl. Thierry & Theod. iii. i, The teares of mandrake and the *marble dew, Mixt in my draught, haue quencht my natural heate. 1633Massinger Guardian iii. i, I would..bathe my self, night by night, in marble dew.
1686Phil. Trans. XVI. 27 Burnt *Marble-flint quench'd in Vinegar.
1882Garden 14 Oct. 334/2 The *Marble and Artichoke galls are formed from buds.
1929M. A. Gill Underworld Slang 8/1 *Marble orchard, cemetery. 1941J. M. Cain Mildred Pierce 155 You'll get your names in this marble orchard soon enough. 1973B. Broadfoot Ten Lost Years x. 110 A couple more punches and it would have been the marble orchard for him.
1680Lond. Gaz. No. 1566/4 Two Books..covered with *Marble Paper. 1737Berkeley Letter Wks. 1871 IV. 247, I would have these pamphlets covered with marble paper pasted on white paper. 1862Catal. Internat. Exhib. II. xxviii. 5 Marble papers.
1910A. Bennett Clayhanger i. i. 9 Six men playing the noble game of rinkers... They were celebrated *marble-players. 1955Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xxiii. 7 Marble players are not imaginative as far as their terminology is concerned. 1959I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. xi. 228 Young marbles players..easily become prey to strange thoughts. Ibid., In some places marble players are addicted to charms.
1896J. W. Kirkaldy & E. C. Pollard tr. Boas' Text Bk. Zool. 519 The Ringed or *Marble Seal (Ph. fœtida).
1883Heal & Son Catal. Sept. 200/2 Hall Table,..St. Ann's *Marble Top. 1891‘O. Thanet’ Otto the Knight 60 [She was] a woman of property,..owning two marble-top bureaus and a sewing-machine. 1963House & Garden Feb. 1 Marble top coffee table, 36{pp} × 15{pp}, {pstlg}38.10.0.
1849*Marble-topped [see longfully adv.]. 1864Mrs. Gaskell French Life i, in Fraser's Mag. Apr. 435/2 The ‘guéridon’ (round, marble-topped table)..the one indispensable article in a French drawing-room. 1886‘Mark Twain’ Let. 7 Aug. (1920) 257 They never used a stove, but cooked their meals on a marble-topped table. a1941V. Woolf Captain's Death-bed (1950) 181 There are marble-topped tables at the corner. 1959W. Golding Free Fall iv. 85 When we were sitting at the marble-topped table my plans began to come apart. 1971M. Lee Dying for Fun xlii. 203 Would he have to change the décor of his flat.., those marble-topped café tables? 1975Times 6 Sept. 1/4 The bomb..was thought to have been placed under one of the marble-topped tables in..the [hotel] lobby.
1945L. Shelly Jive Talk Dict. 29 *Marble town, a graveyard. 1970C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 80 Marble town, (1940's) a cemetery.
1789Farley Lond. Art Cookery ii. iii. (ed. 6) 274 *Marble veal.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., *Marble Wood, a name given by the people of some parts of America to the lignum rhodium, or rose-wood, from the heart of the tree being sometimes variegated like Marble.
▪ II. marble, v.|ˈmɑːb(ə)l|
[f. marble n. Cf. F. marbrer.]
1. trans. To stain or colour (paper, edges of books, soap, etc.) so as to give the appearance of variegated marble.
1683Lond. Gaz. No. 1874/4 A..strong leather Pad-saddle marbled. 1686Plot Staffordsh. 123 Which two colours they break with a wire brush, much after the manner they doe when they marble paper. 1714Gay Sheph. Week ii. 13 Marbled with Sage the hard'ning Cheese she press'd. 1725Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Potage, Marbling it with very brown Veal-Gravy. 1846Ruskin Mod. Paint. I. ii. vi. i. §19 With about as much intelligence or feeling of art as a house-painter has in marbling a wainscot. 1885J. Payn Talk of Town II. 228 Liquids used by bookbinders in marbling covers.
b. To make (a design) by the process of marbling.
1885C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts Ser. iv. 267/1 Take..a green calf and marble a tree upon it.
2. To make white like marble. rare.
1791H. Walpole Let. to Han. More 29 Sept., Mrs. Porteus's accident..may have marbled her complexion, but I am persuaded has not altered her..good-humoured countenance. 1878B. Taylor Deukalion ii. iii. 67 Thy features, marbled by the moon.
†3. To pickle (fish). Obs.
[1598,1611: see marl v.3] 1661Rabisha Cookery Dissected 14 To Marble Sowls, Plaice, Flounders, Smelts. |