Learn English – To have all one’s marbles, usage and origin

idioms

I have seen this idiom used within a negative context such as:

Don't think he still has all is marbles, but could it be used correctly within a positive context?
Plus, where does this saying come from?

Best Answer

Even though marbles is a a children's game, 'losing one's marbles' was not related to the game nor the word 'marble' but a corruption of the word furniture (meubles).

Look up marbles at Dictionary.com

children's game, from plural of marble (n.); first recorded by that name in 1709 but probably older (it was known in 13c. German as tribekugeln) and originally played with small balls of polished marble or alabaster, later clay; the modern glass ones with the colored swirl date from 1840s.

Marbles meaning "mental faculties, common sense" is from 1927, American English slang, perhaps [OED] from earlier slang marbles "furniture, personal effects, 'the goods'" (1864, Hotten), a corrupt translation of French meubles (plural) "furniture" (see furniture).