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

1. \Mar"ble\, n. [OE. marbel, marbre, F. marbre, L. marmor,
   fr. Gr. ?, fr. ? to sparkle, flash. Cf. {Marmoreal}.]
   1. 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.
   
   Note:
   
   {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.
   
   2. 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.
   
   3. 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.
   
   Note: 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.
   
   

2. \Mar"ble\, a.
   1. Made of, or resembling, marble; as, a marble mantel;
      marble paper.
   
   2. Cold; hard; unfeeling; as, a marble breast or heart.
   
   

3. \Mar"ble\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Marbled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Marbling}.] [Cf. F. marbrer. See {Marble}, n.]
   To stain or vein like marble; to variegate in color; as, to
   marble the edges of a book, or the surface of paper.
   
   

as a mineral, consists of carbonate of lime, its texture varying from the highly crystalline to the compact. In Esther 1:6 there are four Hebrew words which are rendered marble:, (1.) Shesh, "pillars of marble." But this word probably designates dark-blue limestone rather than marble. (2.) Dar, some regard as Parian marble. It is here rendered "white marble." But nothing is certainly known of it. (3.) Bahat, "red marble," probably the verd-antique or half-porphyry of Egypt. (4.) Sohareth, "black marble," probably some spotted variety of marble. "The marble pillars and tesserae of various colours of the palace at Susa came doubtless from Persia itself, where marble of various colours is found, especially in the province of Hamadan Susiana." The marble of Solomon's architectural works may have been limestone from near Jerusalem, or from Lebanon, or possibly white marble from Arabia. Herod employed Parian marble in the temple, and marble columns still exist in great abundance at Jerusalem.