marble Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a hard crystalline metamorphic rock that takes a high polish; used for sculpture and as building material
noun a small ball of glass that is used in various games
noun a sculpture carved from marble
verb paint or stain like marble
- marble paper

OE. marbel, marbre, F. marbre, L. marmor, fr. Gr. , fr. 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. ✍ 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.
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.
A little ball of marble, or of some other hard substance, used as a plaything by children; or, in the plural, a child's game played with marbles. ✍ 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.

Cf. F. marbrer. See Marble, n.

imperfect & past participle Marbled ; present participle & verbal noun Marbling

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