marbles
noun1
Any of several children's games played with small balls (made of marble or more commonly glass).
- Egyptian boys played marbles before the days of Moses.
2
Figuratively Sanity.
Usually in a limited number of expressions
- Grandpa's lost his marbles, but at least he still recognizes us.
- Granny's still got all her marbles.
4 more examples
- His lack of marbles is becoming ever more apparent.
- “A nice imbroglio you've landed me in. Thanks to you ...” “Yes, sir.” “Don't say ‘Yes, sir.’ Thanks to you I have been widely publicized as off my rocker.” “Not widely, sir. Merely to your immediate circle now resident at Brinkley Court.” “You have held me up at the bar of world opinion as a man who has not got all his marbles.” “It was not easy to think of an alternative scheme, sir.”1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XXI, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
- There are times when you are certain that the person speaking to you has completely misplaced his marbles. As I leaned away in reaction I felt confident […] Ed had lost his.2005, Sue Henry, The Serpents Trail, page 86:
- —Her daddy's crazy. […] Think she's looking for something? —Treasure, I expect. That or maybe her daddy's marbles.2012, J. T. Petty, Bloody Chester, First Second, →ISBN, page 63:
3
Hobbies, Lifestyle, Motor racing, Racing, Sports Bits of rolled-up rubber shed by the tires of race cars that accumulate at the edges of the track, especially at the corners.
- Some corners are littered with marbles, off the racing line.2014, Amen Zwa, Going Nowhere Fast In Assetto Corsa (2015-05-01), →ISBN, page 395:
- Derived terms
- lose one's marbles, mouthful of marbles
- Related terms
- money and marbles