Lost His Marbles Etymology

From the mid 19th century marbles was also used to mean personal effects goods or more generally stuff.

Lost his marbles etymology.

You needn t say nothing no more to me about no marbles this is most probably why the plural marbles came to be figuratively used to mean mental faculties common sense in the phrases to lose one s marbles to have or not have all one s marbles and variants. Its origin probably lies with the childrens game. What s the origin of the phrase lose your marbles. To lose one s marbles is to go mad.

1998 spectator at least that is how i recall the event but i am losing my marbles. Queeg restlessly jiggling a set of metal balls when under stress in court. Who can mistake the meaning of the boy when he had lost his marbles playing keeps. To lose one s marbles is to lose one s mind.

Marbles as a term for a person s mental faculties probably originated as early 20th century american slang. The underlying reference is apparently to the children s game played with multicoloured glass balls.