11/3/2023 0 Comments Lose your marbles ost![]() ![]() Of course, marbles are the little clay or glass balls that children use to play the eponymous game. The word 'marbles' has had many meanings. That's worth investigation at least, so let's have a go. Perhaps though 'marbles' meant 'mind' or 'wits' before 'lose one's marbles' was coined. ![]() ![]() In those later expressions the literal meaning of 'load', 'light' etc don't have any special significance - the point is that the person in question has, as in another earlier variant, 'a bit missing'. This late 19th century American meaning has now been superseded by the many variants of 'one brick short of a load', 'the light's on but there's no one at home' etc. ![]() To 'lose one's marbles' is to lose one's mind.
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