Wiktionary

marrow

See also: Marrow

English

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English mary, marow, marwe, marowȝ, from Old English mearg, from Proto-West Germanic *maʀg, from Proto-Germanic *mazgą, *mazgaz, from Proto-Indo-European *mosgʰos. Compare West Frisian moarch, Dutch merg, German Mark, Swedish märg, Icelandic mergur, and also Russian мозг (mozg, “brain”), Polish mózg (“brain”), Persian مغز (mağz, “brain”). Doublet of maghaz.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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marrow (countable and uncountable, plural marrows)

 
Transected beef bones, exposing the marrow inside
 
Vegetable marrows
  1. (uncountable) The substance inside bones which produces blood cells.
    • 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 1:
      Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
    • 2004, “Eaten”, performed by Bloodbath:
      Chop me up, I like to be hurt / Drink my marrow and blood for dessert
  3. A kind of vegetable like a large courgette/zucchini or squash.
    • 1847, Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk, “Steam-Boat Voyage to Barbados”, in Bentley's Miscellany, volume XXII, London: Richard Bentley, page 37:
      The finest European vegetables, cabbages, cauliflowers, potatoes, vegetable marrow, were lying in the market-hall, awaiting purchasers.
  4. The pith of certain plants.
  5. The essence; the best part.
  6. Inner meaning or purpose.
  7. (medicine, colloquial, countable) Bone marrow biopsy.
    This patient will have a marrow today.
  8. (obsolete) (uncountable) Semen.
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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See also

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Etymology 2

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From Old Norse margr.

Alternative forms

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Noun

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marrow (plural marrows)

  1. (Geordie, informal) A friend, pal, buddy, mate.
    Cheers marrow!
  2. (mining, slang, obsolete) A miner's mate or assistant.
    • 1855, Mining Magazine, page 519:
      A 'getter' or miner is paid 1½ to 2 cents per hundred weight of Coals excavated, […] but out of this sum, his "marrows" or assistants who do the business of 'putting' and 'hurrying' for him must be paid […]
  3. (Scotland or archaic) One of a pair; a match; a companion; an intimate associate.
    • c. 1620, anonymous, “Tom o’ Bedlam’s Song” in Giles Earle his Booke (British Museum, Additional MSS. 24, 665):
      The moon’s my constant Mistresse / & the lowlie owle my morrowe. / The flaming Drake and yͤ Nightcrowe make / mee musicke to my sorrowe.
    • [1917, John Buchan, “[Theocritus in Scots.] The Kirn (Idyll vii).”, in Poems: Scots and English (in Scots), London; Edinburgh: T. C. & E. C. Jack, →OCLC, book I (Scots), page 38:
      The dreichest saul could see he had sunlicht in his ee, / And there's no his marrow left in the toun.
      The most cheerless soul could see he had sunlight in his eye, / And there's none his equal left in the town.]
Derived terms
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References

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  • A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Bill Griffiths, 2005, Northumbria University Press, →ISBN
  • Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
  • A List of words and phrases in everyday use by the natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham, F.M.T.Palgrave, English Dialect Society vol.74, 1896, [1]
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