Marble Words

Aggie

  A shooter made from the mineral, agate.

Alley
  Old name for a shooting marble. Sometimes pronounced "Olley" (Liverpool) or with a T to make it Tolley. It is
  though that it is short for Alabaster - the material that marbles were made from.

Alley up
To pay one’s share.

Ante
  The number of marbles each player put into the Pot or kitty.

Blocking
  Any intentional or persistent contact between a player or his clothing and a marble.

Bosser
  Shooting marble used at Battle in East Sussex.

Bottley
  The marble held in the neck of an old Cod’s bottle.

Cabbaging
  Any attempt by a player shooting from within the ring to shoot from any point other than that point where his
  marble came to rest. A foul shot.

Cane
  A long glass rod constructed of layers of different colours.

Cats Eyes
  Clear glass marbles with a single quarter moon shaped wedge of colour inside.

Cullet
  Pieces of broken glass that are added to the batch.

Fairs
  For fairs, means that all marbles are returned to their owners at the end of the game.

Flints
  Hand made marbles produced by the Rolly Hole marble players, in Tennessee and Kentucky. e.g. Bud Garrett,
  Junior B Strong, Scotty McLerren and others.

From marbles to manslaughter
From one extreme to the other.

Fudging
  Any forward or other advantageous movement of the player’s shooting hand while he is shooting. A foul shot.

Glarney
  A corruption of Glassy, a glass marble. First used in 1854 and used up until the 1960s, by which time all
  marbles were made of glass.

Gobblins
  A cry used at Hove, ‘Gobblins and take’ taking any marbles that were played after 12 noon on Good Friday.

Gubby
  Hole in the ground used for marble games (Copthorne)

Hoggings
  After Good Friday in Ninfield ‘Hoggings’ came in to force after that time one was perfectly justified in confiscating
  any marbles being played with

I’ll be a marble upon your taw
I’ll pay you out.

Immie
  A glass marble streaked with colour.

Inching
  Moving the hand and shooting marble nearer to a target marble before shooting. a foul shot.

Keeps
  For keeps is the cry which mean’s that the winner keeps all the marbles he/she has won when the game is over.

Killed
  If a player leaves his tolley in the ring having made no score, his tolley must remain where it is until his next go. If
  any other player knocks that tolley out of the ring the owner id said to have been killed and takes no further
  part in the present game.

Knuckle down
  The act of shooting with the knuckles of the hand on the ground until the tolley has left the hand.

Lagging
  To start a game in the National Marbles Tournament USA, the two players shot their marbles from the baseline to
  the lagline some 12 feet away, this is known as lagging. See Nosedrop UK.

Mibs
  The game of marbles, from a shortening of the word marbles.

Moshie
  A three hole marbles game as played in Scotland.

Nosedrop
  To decide which team or player shall have the first shot. A line is scribed in the sand and the two players stand
  with one leg either side of it, their tolley held between thumb and index finger against the tip of the nose. The
  players then drop the tolley onto the line; nearest the line has the option to shot first. Also called Drop Tolley.

Olley
  The name of the shooting marble as used in Liverpool in the 1960s and before.

Ring Taw
  The game of marbles as played at Tinsley Green each Good Friday. It is one of the oldest games and
  often mentioned in Victorian books.

Ringer
  A game for two players, the Tournament game played in the USA.

Rolly Hole
  A three hole marble game played on the Tennessee/Kentucky state line by two teams of two players.

Snooger
  A close call or near miss. Also a sitting marble near the edge of the ring.

Smugs
  It was ‘Smugs’ and take any marbles used after 12 noon on Good Friday at Slaugham

Steelie
  A marble made out of steel that is either solid or hollow, a ball bearing.

Stonk
  A game of marbles; a coloured marble; a stake in a game of marbles.

Take the marbles out of your mouth
Speak more distinctly.

Targets
  The marbles that are added to the ring before each game can be played. They were made of clay before the
  1960s but are now made of glass. The size is 5/16-inch approx. At Tinsley Green these are Red and at the
  National Marbles Tournament USA they are Blue.

Taw
  The old name for a shooting marble, a much-prized marble made of stone or even semiprecious mineral.

Tawline
  The mark from which the marble is shot at the beginning of the game.

Three Hole
  A marble game where the holes are in a line and each player has to ‘make’ the holes in order, the first player to
  do this is then able to shoot at the other player’s marble. See Rolly Hole and Moshie.

Tolley
  The individual shooting marble used by each player at Tinsley Green and elsewhere. In the past it was often made
  of stone or clay, today it is mainly glass. In the 1970’s many were ceramic, left over from the ‘paint’ industry. In
  the 1990s many of the contestants at Tinsley played with Tennessee ‘flint’ marbles. Tolley’s could be up to ¾ inch
  in size but no bigger than that.