ˈmarble-stone Obs. exc. dial.
Forms: see marble n.; also marm-stone.
[Cf. chalkstone, limestone.]
= marble; a marble floor, monument, tomb, etc.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 145 Hie [marie magdalene]..nam ane box ȝemaked of marbelstone. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1489 Þu schalt habben..of marbrestan a temple. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 9787 Þe point of is suerd brec in þe marbreston a tuo. c 1386 Chaucer Prioress' T. 229 In a temple of Marbul stones cleere Enclosen they his litel body sweete. c 1430 Lydg. Minor Poems (Percy Soc.) 50 Harde to lyke hony out of a marble stone. 1530 Palsgr. 530/1 Water by often droppyng may make a hole in a marbyll stone. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. vi, In the middest of the pauement which was of Marber stone. 1682 Creech Lucretius (1683) 94 If that's an Ill, why not as great an one To be opprest with Earth, or Marble-stone? 1896 A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad li, I met a statue standing still. Still in marble stone stood he, And stedfastly he looked at me. |