a small ball originally made of marble, now usually of glass, clay, porcelain, etc. sculptures, buildings, floors, monuments, tombs, etc.) 3. an object made of or carved from this stone (e.g. a recrystallized limestone that is capable of taking a polish. New Shorter OED, Random House, and Merriam-Webster’s Dictionaries: Nevertheless, here’s some background on the origin of ‘losing one’s marbles,’ as in ‘going slightly mad.’ I checked English to Greek, French, and German dictionaries, for example, and I just couldn’t tell if they were the same word or not. It is possible that in other languages the word for the stone of friezes is not the same as the word for the little round balls often used in a children’s games. Martin, I agree with Melvyn’s interpretation of the use of the phrase as probably being a pun on ‘marbles’ provided that you saw this statement written in English.
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