Marble

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: Mar=ble

CIDE DICTIONARY

Marble, n. [OE. marbel, marbre, F. marbre, L. marmor, fr. Gr. ma`rmaros, fr. marmai`rein to sparkle, flash. Cf. Marmoreal.].

•  A massive, compact limestone; a variety of calcite, capable of being polished and used for architectural and ornamental purposes. The color varies from white to black, being sometimes yellow, red, and green, and frequently beautifully veined or clouded. The name is also given to other rocks of like use and appearance, as serpentine or verd antique marble, and less properly to polished porphyry, granite, etc.  [1913 Webster]

  " Breccia marble consists of limestone fragments cemented together. -- Ruin marble, when polished, shows forms resembling ruins, due to disseminated iron oxide. -- Shell marble contains fossil shells. -- Statuary marble is a pure, white, fine-grained kind, including Parian (from Paros) and Carrara marble. If coarsely granular it is called saccharoidal."  [1913 Webster]
•  A thing made of, or resembling, marble, as a work of art, or record, in marble; or, in the plural, a collection of such works; as, the Arundel or Arundelian marbles; the Elgin marbles.  [1913 Webster]
•  A little ball of glass, marble, porcelain, or of some other hard substance, used as a plaything by children; or, in the plural, a child's game played with marbles.  [1913 Webster]

  " Marble is also much used in self-explaining compounds; when used figuratively in compounds it commonly means, hard, cold, destitute of compassion or feeling; as, marble-breasted, marble-faced, marble-hearted."  [1913 Webster]

Marble, a. 

•  Made of, or resembling, marble; as, a marble mantel; marble paper.  [1913 Webster]
•  Cold; hard; unfeeling; as, a marble breast or heart.  [1913 Webster]

Marble, v. t. [Cf. F. marbrer. See Marble, n.].

 To stain or vein like marble; to variegate in color; as, to marble the edges of a book, or the surface of paper.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Marble, n. & v.
--n.
1 limestone in a metamorphic crystalline (or granular) state, and capable of taking a polish, used in sculpture and architecture.
2 (often attrib.) a anything made of marble (a marble clock). b anything resembling marble in hardness, coldness, durability, etc. (her features were marble).
3 a a small ball of marble, glass, clay, etc., used as a toy. b (in pl.; treated as sing.) a game using these.
4 (in pl.) sl. one's mental faculties (he's lost his marbles).
5 (in pl.) a collection of sculptures (Elgin Marbles).
--v.tr.
1 (esp. as marbled adj.) stain or colour (paper, the edges of a book, soap, etc.) to look like variegated marble.
2 (as marbled adj.) (of meat) streaked with alternating layers of lean and fat.

Idiom

marble cake a cake with a mottled appearance, made of light and dark sponge.

Derivative

marbly adj.

Etymology

ME f. OF marbre, marble, f. L marmor f. Gk marmaros shining stone

THESAURUS

Marble

Dalmatian, adamant, agate, alabaster, antigorite, argent, argentine, ball, band, bar, baseball bat, bat, battledore, bauble, bespangle, bespeckle, bespot, billiard table, blocks, blotch, bone, bony, bowling alley, bowling green, brick, bronze, butterfly, candy cane, canescent, cast, cement, cemental, chalky, chameleon, check, checker, checkerboard, cheetah, chessboard, chrysotile, club, cockhorse, concrete, confetti, corneous, crazy quilt, cretaceous, cricket bat, cue, dapple, dense, diamond, diamondlike, doll, doll carriage, dot, dure, firedog, flake, flat, fleck, fleecy-white, flint, flintlike, flinty, freckle, frosted, frosty, gewgaw, gimcrack, glass, golf club, granite, granitelike, granitic, grizzled, grizzly, hard, hard as nails, hardhearted, harlequin, heart of oak, hoar, hoary, hobbyhorse, horny, ice, iris, iron, iron-hard, ironlike, ivory, jack-in-the-box, jacks, jackstones, jackstraws, jaguar, kickshaw, knickknack, lactescent, lapideous, leopard, level, lily-white, lithoid, lithoidal, mackerel, mackerel sky, maculate, mahogany, marbled paper, marbleize, marblelike, marionette, marmoreal, mig, milky, mobile, moire, mother-of-pearl, motley, mottle, nacre, nails, niveous, oak, obdurate, ocelot, opal, ophite, osseous, paper doll, patchwork quilt, peacock, pepper, pick-up sticks, pinwheel, plane, platinum, plaything, polychrome, polychromize, puppet, pure white, racket, rag doll, rainbow, resistant, resistive, rock, rocking horse, rocklike, rocky, satin, sculpture, serpentine, serpentine marble, shot silk, silk, silver, silvered, silvery, slide, smooth, snow-white, snowy, solid, spangle, speck, speckle, spectrum, splotch, sport, spot, sprinkle, stabile, statue, steel, steelie, steellike, steely, stigmatize, stipple, stone, stonelike, stony, streak, striate, stripe, stud, swan-white, tattoo, taw, teetotum, tennis court, terra cotta, tessellate, top, tortoise shell, tough, toy, toy soldier, trinket, variegate, vein, velvet, whim-wham, white, white as snow, zebra

ROGET THESAURUS

Marble

Writing

N writing, chirography, stelography, cerography, penmanship, craftmanship, quill driving, typewriting, writing, manuscript, MS, literae scriptae, these presents, stroke of the pen, dash of the pen, coupe de plume, line, headline, pen and ink, letter, uncial writing, cuneiform character, arrowhead, Ogham, Runes, hieroglyphic, contraction, Brahmi, Devanagari, Nagari, script, shorthand, stenography, brachygraphy, tachygraphy, secret writing, writing in cipher, cryptography, stenography, phonography, pasigraphy, Polygraphy, logography, copy, transcript, rescript, rough copy, fair copy, handwriting, signature, sign manual, autograph, monograph, holograph, hand, fist, calligraphy, good hand, running hand, flowing hand, cursive hand, legible hand, bold hand, cacography, griffonage, barbouillage, bad hand, cramped hand, crabbed hand, illegible hand, scribble, pattes de mouche, ill-formed letters, pothooks and hangers, stationery, pen, quill, goose quill, pencil, style, paper, foolscap, parchment, vellum, papyrus, tablet, slate, marble, pillar, table, blackboard, ink bottle, ink horn, ink pot, ink stand, ink well, typewriter, transcription, inscription, superscription, graphology, composition, authorship, cacoethes scribendi, graphoidea, graphomania, phrenoia, writer, scribe, amanuensis, scrivener, secretary, clerk, penman, copyist, transcriber, quill driver, stenographer, typewriter, typist, writer for the press, writing, written, in writing, in black and white, under one's hand, uncial, Runic, cuneiform, hieroglyphical, currente calamo, pen in hand, audacter et sincere, le style est l'homme meme, nature's noblest gift - my gray goose quill, scribendi recte sapere et principium et fons, that mighty instrument of little men, the pen became a clarion.

Insensibility

N insensibility, insensibleness, moral insensibility, inertness, inertia, vis inertiae, impassibility, impassibleness, inappetency, apathy, phlegm, dullness, hebetude, supineness, lukewarmness, cold fit, cold blood, cold heart, coldness, coolness, frigidity, sang froid, stoicism, imperturbation, nonchalance, unconcern, dry eyes, insouciance, recklessness, callousness, heart of stone, stock and stone, marble, deadness, torpor, torpidity, obstupefaction, lethargy, coma, trance, vegetative state, sleep, suspended animation, stupor, stupefaction, paralysis, palsy, numbness, neutrality, quietism, vegetation, insensible, unconscious, impassive, impassible, blind to, deaf to, dead to, unsusceptible, insusceptible, unimpressionable, unimpressible, passionless, spiritless, heartless, soulless, unfeeling, unmoral, apathetic, leuco-, phlegmatic, dull, frigid, cold blooded, cold hearted, cold as charity, flat, maudlin, obtuse, inert, supine, sluggish, torpid, torpedinous, torporific, sleepy, languid, half-hearted, tame, numbed, comatose, anaesthetic, stupefied, chloroformed, drugged, stoned, palsy-stricken, indifferent, lukewarm, careless, mindless, regardless, inattentive, neglectful, disregarding, unconcerned, nonchalant, pococurante, insouciant, sans souci, unambitious, unaffected, unruffled, unimpressed, uninspired, unexcited, unmoved, unstirred, untouched, unshocked, unstruck, unblushing, unanimated, vegetative, callous, thick-skinned, hard-nosed, pachydermatous, impervious, hardened, inured, casehardened, steeled against, proof against, imperturbable, unfelt, insensibly, aequo animo, without being moved, without being touched, without being impressed, in cold blood, with dry eyes, with withers unwrung, never mind, macht nichts, it is of no consequence, it cannot be helped, nothing coming amiss, it is all the same to, it is all one to.

Rotundity

N rotundity, roundness, cylindricity, sphericity, spheroidity, globosity, cylinder, cylindroid, cylindrical, barrel, drum, roll, roller, rouleau, column, rolling-pin, rundle, cone, conoid, pear shape, egg shape, bell shape, sphere, globe, ball, boulder, bowlder, spheroid, ellipsoid, oblong spheroid, oblate spheroid, prolate spheroid, drop, spherule, globule, vesicle, bulb, bullet, pellet, pelote, clew, pill, marble, pea, knob, pommel, horn, knot (convolution), curved surface, hypersphere, hyperdimensional surface, rotund, round, cylindric, cylindrical, cylindroid, columnar, lumbriciform, conic, conical, spherical, spheroidal, globular, globated, globous, globose, egg shaped, bell shaped, pear shaped, ovoid, oviform, gibbous, rixiform, campaniform, campanulate, campaniliform, fungiform, bead-like, moniliform, pyriform, bulbous, tres atque rotundus, round as an orange, round as an apple, round as a ball, round as a billiard ball, round as a cannon ball.

Hardness

N hardness, rigidity, renitence, renitency, inflexibility, temper, callosity, durity, induration, petrifaction, lapidification, lapidescence, vitrification, ossification, crystallization, stone, pebble, flint, marble, rock, fossil, crag, crystal, quartz, granite, adamant, bone, cartilage, hardware, heart of oak, block, board, deal board, iron, steel, cast iron, decarbonized iron, wrought iron, nail, brick, concrete, cement, hard, rigid, stubborn, stiff, firm, starch, starched, stark, unbending, unlimber, unyielding, inflexible, tense, indurate, indurated, gritty, proof, adamant, adamantine, adamantean, concrete, stony, granitic, calculous, lithic, vitreous, horny, corneous, bony, osseous, ossific, cartilaginous, hard as a rock, stiff as buckram, stiff as a poker, stiff as starch, stiff as as board.

Variegation

N variegation, colors, dichroism, trichroism, iridescence, play of colors, polychrome, maculation, spottiness, striae, spectrum, rainbow, iris, tulip, peacock, chameleon, butterfly, tortoise shell, mackerel, mackerel sky, zebra, leopard, cheetah, nacre, ocelot, ophite, mother-of-pearl, opal, marble, check, plaid, tartan, patchwork, marquetry-, parquetry, mosaic, tesserae, strigae, chessboard, checkers, chequers, harlequin, Joseph's coat, tricolor, variegated, many-colored, many-hued, divers-colored, party- colored, dichromatic, polychromatic, bicolor, tricolor, versicolor, of all the colors of the rainbow, of all manner of colors, kaleidoscopic, iridescent, opaline, opalescent, prismatic, nacreous, pearly, shot, gorge de pigeon, chatoyant, irisated, pavonine, pied, piebald, motley, mottled, marbled, pepper and salt, paned, dappled, clouded, cymophanous, mosaic, tesselated, plaid, tortoise shell, spotted, spotty, punctated, powdered, speckled, freckled, flea-bitten, studded, flecked, fleckered, striated, barred, veined, brinded, brindled, tabby, watered, grizzled, listed, embroidered, daedal, naevose, stipiform, strigose, striolate, (iii) PERCEPTIONS OF LIGHT.

Sculpture

N sculpture, insculpture, carving, statuary, high relief, low relief, bas relief, relief, relieve, bassorilievo, altorilievo, mezzorilievo, intaglio, anaglyph, medal, medallion, cameo, marble, bronze, terra cotta, papier-mache, ceramic ware, pottery, porcelain, china, earthenware, cloisonne, enamel, faience, Laocoon, satsuma, statue, cast, glyptotheca, sculptured, v, in relief, anaglyptic, ceroplastic, ceramic, parian, marble, xanthian, sculpture, insculpture, carving, statuary, high relief, low relief, bas relief, relief, relieve, bassorilievo, altorilievo, mezzorilievo, intaglio, anaglyph, medal, medallion, cameo, marble, bronze, terra cotta, papier-mache, ceramic ware, pottery, porcelain, china, earthenware, cloisonne, enamel, faience, Laocoon, satsuma, statue, cast, glyptotheca, sculptured, v, in relief, anaglyptic, ceroplastic, ceramic, parian, marble, xanthian.