marble

Meanings

Noun

• A metamorphic rock of crystalline limestone.
• A small ball used in games, originally of marble but now usually of glass or ceramic.
• Statues made from marble.

Verb

• 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.
• To get or have 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.
• To cause meat, usually beef, pork, or lamb, to be interlaced with fat so that its appearance resembles that of marble.
• To become interlaced with fat; to interlace through meat.
• To lace or be laced throughout.

Adjective

• Made of, or resembling, marble.
• Cold; hard; unfeeling.

Related

Narrower meaning words

• china, plaster

Origin

• From Middle English marble, marbre, from Anglo-Norman and Old French marbre, from Latin marmor, from Ancient Greek μάρμαρος, perhaps related to μαρμάρεος. 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.