marley
/ˈmɑːli
/(also marlie)
noun (plural marleys or marlies) Northern Irish informal
1A small ball of coloured glass or similar material used as a toy; a marble: your knuckles are skinned from shooting marleys...
- Marlie season was most popular in the summertime but extended all year long.
- Take the marlies out of yer mouth and give us all a game.
- When my mother forced me and my brother to wash the dishes or vacuum our room, we managed to break a dish or two and suck marlies up the cleaner.
1.1 (marleys or marlies) [treated as singular] A game in which marbles are rolled along the ground with the aim of hitting those of one’s opponent: she had a flair for marleys...
- We gathered on a dusty patch in front of the playing fields for a game of marlies.
- The rules and regulations of marleys, for instance, were fairly simple.
- They just can't help spending our money on receptions for anything from the synchronised swimming team to the world-acclaimed left-handed marlies champions.
Phrases
one's head is a marley
Origin
Late 19th century: from dialect marl contraction of marble + -y2.