marble

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A metamorphic rock formed by alteration of limestone or dolomite, often irregularly colored by impurities, and used especially in architecture and sculpture.
2. n. A piece of this rock.
3. n. A sculpture made from this rock.
4. n. Something resembling or suggesting metamorphic rock, as in being very hard, smooth, or cold: a heart of marble; a brow of marble.
5. n. Games A small hard ball, usually of glass, used in children's games.
6. n. Games Any of various games played with marbles.
7. n. Slang Common sense; sanity: completely lost his marbles after the stock market crash.
8. n. Marbling.
9. v. To mottle and streak (paper, for example) with colors and veins in imitation of marble.
10. adj. Composed of metamorphic rock: a marble hearth.
11. adj. Resembling metamorphic rock in consistency, texture, venation, color, or coldness.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Limestone in a more or less crystalline or crystalline-granular condition. Any limestone, however, even if very compact or showing only traces of a crystalline structure, may be called marble if it is capable of taking a polish, or if it is suitable or desirable for ornamental and decorative purposes. The presence of magnesium carbonate associated with the calcium carbonate, forming dolomitic limestone or even pure dolomite, does not in any way influence the nomenclature of the rock; indeed, such presence cannot usually be known except from chemical analysis. Marble is a material of great importance in architecture, not only for exterior use, but for interior decoration in large, costly monumental structures. Thirty-three varieties of ornamental stone are used in the interior of the Grand Opera House in Paris, and a large proportion of these may be classed as marbles. The value and beauty of marble depend largely on its coloration. Perfectly pure carbonate of lime, dolomitic limestone, and dolomite are all colorless, and white marbles—or at least such as are only slightly tinged with color—are very abundant. White marble such as is used for statuary (for which purpose it must be obtained in large blocks free from flaws or defects of any kind, and perfectly uniform in tint) is extremely rare. Among the finest statuary-marbles are those used in the masterpieces of Greek sculpture, of which that from the island of Paros is generally admitted to surpass all others, especially in the possession of a certain amount of translucence by which the artistic effect of the work is heightened. The Parian quarries seem, however, to have been practically exhausted. The Pentelican marble, obtained from quarries near Athens, stood next to the Parian in ancient times, and its quarries are still apparently inexhaustible. At the present time the artistic world is supplied with statuary-marble from quarries in the Apennine mountains overlooking the Bay of Spezia, and in the vicinity of Carrara, Massa, and Serravezza. From this marble were carved the finest works of Michelangelo. These quarries, which have been extensively worked for 2,000 years, furnish, in addition to the white, a large amount of variegated marble, especially of the variety known as bardiglio. The number and variety of colored and variegated marbles used for various artistic and architectural purposes is very great. Entirely black marble capable of taking a fine polish is rare; much more common are varieties irregularly shaded with gray, bluish-gray, or dove-colored tints. Bright colors—red, yellow, green, and blue—are much rarer than the less brilliant shades, but they are seen in some marbles, and are occasionally so blended and interbanded as to produce extremely beautiful effects. These brilliant colorations are chiefly due to the presence of iron in various combinations; dark and grayish shades are generally caused by the presence of a greater or less amount of organic matter. In many varieties of marble the presence of organic remains embedded in the rock adds greatly to its attractiveness. Joints and stems of encrinites, as well as many other kinds of fossils, occur in this way, and by contrast of their color with that of the material in which they are inclosed, as well as by the gracefulness of their forms, produce a very fine effect. Fragments of shells embedded in calcareous rocks sometimes exhibit a brilliant display of iridescent coloration: such marbles are known as lumachelles, or, sometimes, fircmarbles. A beautiful effcct is occasionally produced as the result of deposition of the calcareous material in stalagmitic form, so that when cut and polished the marble exhibits concentric zones of various tints; varieties having this structure are frequently called onyx marble. The vicinity of the Mediterranean is the classic region of marbles. Italy, France, and Spain are rich in beautiful varieties, and these are seen in the greatest number and to the best advantage in the architectural works of ancient and modern Rome. For this reason many of the rarest and most attractive marbles are best known by Italian names, and these names are frequently applied to varieties occurring far away from the Mediterranean, from either real or fancied similarity to the Italian marbles. Some of the best-known and most highly prized classic variegated marbles are the following. Africano, from the island of Chios, is a lumachelle, or shellmarble, exhibiting a great variety and brilliancy of coloration, reddish and purplish tints predominating. Bardiglio is common in the Apennine quarries, of a grayish- or bluish-white color, traversed by darker veins of the same. Brocatel and brocatellone are extremely variegated marbles, with numerous interlacing veins of yellow, violet, and crimson tints, on a yellowish ground; marble bearing these designations has been and still is quarried in various places. and especially near Tortosa in Spain. Cipollino is a marble with more or less of a concretionary structure, of many tints and much variety in their arrangement, with corresponding names, such as cipollino verde, mandorlato(having almond-shaped patches of color), rosso, etc.; a fine example of this marble may be seen in the columns of the Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican. Fior di persico is an exquisitely beautiful marble, with a reddish and crimson shading on a white base: called by the ancients marmor Molossium, because coming from the region inhabited by the Molossi, in what is now Albania, on the eastern coast of the Adriatic. Giallo antico or Numidian marble is an extremely beautiful marble quarried in northern Africa; it was highly esteemed and extensively used by the Romans. The tints are variable, red and yellow predominating; the different varieties were designated by names indicating the prevailing tints. Giallo di Siena is a beautiful yellow marble of various depths of color, with darker veins, in which violet hues predominate: when these veins are very numerous the marble becomes a brocatel. Pavonazzo and pavonazetto are various red and purplish marbles and breccias, some of the latter being also true marbles, but having a more or less brecciated character. The most beautiful pavonazetto is that called by the Romans marmor Synadicum or Phrygian marble, from the locality where it was obtained; it is characterized by a very irregular venation of dark-red with bluish and yellowish tints, ramifying through a translucent alabaster-like base, which is sometimes almost opaline in its play of colors. Rosso antico is a marble of very deep red color, sometimes of various shades, occasionally streaked or clouded with dark-purple or whitish tints. The original locality of the classic rosso antico has not been discovered, but some modern red marbles closely resemble this variety. Some of the most highly prized French colored marbles bear names peculiar to France. (See griotte, portor, sarrancolin.) The Devonian and Carboniferous of England and Ireland furnish a considerablé number of ornamental marbles. Devonshire and Derbyshire are the counties in which the best-known English varieties are obtained. The finest Irish variegated marbles are quarried near Armagh, and at various localities in county Cork, also at Killarney. and on the islands of the Kenmare river; and marble called Siena is obtained from several places in King's county and near Shannon Harbor in Galway. The most important quarries of white and grayish marble in the United States are those in the Lower Silurian of Vermont and western Massachusetts. There are very extensive marble-works at Rutland in Vermont, at Lee in Massachusetts, and at many other points in the same geological formation. Some of the variegated marbles found on the islands and near the shores of Lake Champlain are very handsome, but they are not extensively worked. The most popular colored marble in the United States at the present time is the Tennessee, a light-grayish stone beautifully mottled with shades of pinkish red. This marble has been extensively employed in the capitols at Washington and Albany.
2. n. A piece of sculptured or inscribed marble, especially if having some interest as an object of study or curiosity, and more particularly if ancient; any work of art in marble: as, the Elgin marblcs. -
3. n. A little ball of marble or other stone, or of baked clay, porcelain, or glass, used by children in play; an alley. -
4. n. In glassblowing, a block or thick piece of wood in which are formed hemispherical concavities, used in the manufacture of flasks, etc., to shape the fused glass gathered upon the end of the glass-blower's pipe into an approximately spherical form by pressing and turning it over in the concavities preparatory to the blowing. See marver. [In this sense improperly spelled marbel.] -5. Marble-silk.
5. n. plural A venereal disease, probably bubo.
6. Consisting of marble: as, a marble pillar.
7. Veined or stained like marble; variegated in color; marbled.
8. Resembling or comparable to marble in some particular; hard and cold, crystalline, frigid, insensible, etc.
9. To give an appearance of marble to; stain or vein like variegated marble: as, to marble paper; a book with marbled edges. See marbling, 3. Specifically, in bookbinding, to marble is to apply to paper or book-edges variegated colors in imitation of colored marble, or in any other irregular form.

Wiktionary

1. n. uncountable A rock of crystalline limestone.
2. n. countable A small spherical ball of rock, glass, ceramic or metal used in children's games.
3. v. transitive To cause (something to have) the streaked or swirled appearance of certain types of marble, for example by mixing viscous ingredients incompletely, or by applying paint or other colorants unevenly.
4. v. intransitive To get the streaked or swirled appearance of certain types of marble, for example due to the incomplete mixing of viscous ingredients, or the uneven application of paint or other colorants.
5. v. transitive To cause meat, usually beef, pork, or lamb, to be interlaced with fat so that its appearance resembles that of marble.
6. v. intransitive, of meat To become interlaced with fat.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. 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.
2. n. 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
3. n. 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.
4. adj. Made of, or resembling, marble
5. adj. Cold; hard; unfeeling.
6. v. To stain or vein like marble; to variegate in color.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a small ball of glass that is used in various games
2. n. a sculpture carved from marble
3. v. paint or stain like marble
4. n. a hard crystalline metamorphic rock that takes a high polish; used for sculpture and as building material