Library / English Dictionary

MARBLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A small ball of glass that is used in various games

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("marble" is a kind of...):

ball (round object that is hit or thrown or kicked in games)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "marble"):

shooter; taw (a large marble used for shooting in the game of marbles)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A sculpture carved from marble

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("marble" is a kind of...):

sculpture (a three-dimensional work of plastic art)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A hard crystalline metamorphic rock that takes a high polish; used for sculpture and as building material

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("marble" is a kind of...):

rock; stone (material consisting of the aggregate of minerals like those making up the Earth's crust)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "marble"):

verd antique; verde antique (a dark green impure marble)

Derivation:

marble (paint or stain like marble)

marbleize (make something look like marble)

marmoreal; marmorean (of or relating to or characteristic of marble)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Paint or stain like marble

Example:

marble paper

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "marble" is one way to...):

stain (color with a liquid dye or tint)

Domain category:

handicraft (a craft that requires skillful hands)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

marble (a hard crystalline metamorphic rock that takes a high polish; used for sculpture and as building material)

Credits

 Context examples: 

“Ma foi! you have not too much of either, for you are as white as marble,” said Harcomb bluntly.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For example, you might buy a hard drive that is too small for your needs, drop your new product on a marble floor, or have a cup of tea spill on the computer.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The next morning he came to the eldest and took him to a marble table, where there were three tablets, containing an account of the means by which the castle might be disenchanted.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The fireplace, where she had expected the ample width and ponderous carving of former times, was contracted to a Rumford, with slabs of plain though handsome marble, and ornaments over it of the prettiest English china.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Ultimately, having been highly prized for centuries, the marbled appearance of walrus ivory fell out of favour as West African trade routes opened up, and the homogenous finish of elephant ivory became de rigueur in the 13th century.

(Over-hunting walruses contributed to the collapse of Norse Greenland, University of Cambridge)

The whole party rose accordingly, and under Mrs. Rushworth's guidance were shewn through a number of rooms, all lofty, and many large, and amply furnished in the taste of fifty years back, with shining floors, solid mahogany, rich damask, marble, gilding, and carving, each handsome in its way.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Some were condensing air into a dry tangible substance, by extracting the nitre, and letting the aqueous or fluid particles percolate; others softening marble, for pillows and pin-cushions; others petrifying the hoofs of a living horse, to preserve them from foundering.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

She has made a home out of that old boat, sir, that stone and marble couldn't beat.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

My eye involuntarily wandered to the grey church tower near the gates, and I asked, "Is he with Damer de Rochester, sharing the shelter of his narrow marble house?"

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

'Oh, rise!' she said, extending a hand of marble fairness.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)