lose one's marbles

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

lose one's marbles (third-person singular simple present loses one's marbles, present participle losing one's marbles, simple past and past participle lost one's marbles)

1. Synonym of lose one's mind (“to become crazy”)
   • 1981 April 13, New York magazine, vol. 14, no. 15,

     There it was again, the suggestion that the governor had lost his marbles. And, to be truthful, Breslin is a bit late on the loony angle.

   • 2004, Alfredo Bryce Echenique, Dick Gerde, A world for Julius:

     If my golfing friends would see me now, they'd crap in their pants laughing at me. They'd say that poor jerk had lost his marbles.

   • 2005, Charles R. Cross, Room full of mirrors: a biography of Jimi Hendrix:

     Jimi's obsession with his guitar garnered him a nickname around Clarksville: Marbles. He was so named because people thought he had "lost his marbles" and was crazy as a result of his excessive practicing.

   • 2023 April 27, Nils Pratley, “Ignore Microsoft’s whines about the Activision takeover. The CMA did its job”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     On the substance of Smith’s grumble – that Microsoft’s remedies for the cloud part of the gaming market were sufficient – opinion obviously differs, but the CMA hasn’t lost its marbles.