all the marbles
Americanidiom
-
the most or highest degree of what can be won, gained, etc.; everything that is to be had.
-
(as for all the marbles
-
(as go for all the marbles) to contend for everything in an all-or-nothing situation.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Now it’s a one-game series and it’s for all the marbles, and where better to have a Game 7 than the Garden?”
From Seattle Times ● May 18, 2024
Bills at Patriots: This one’s for all the marbles — or most of them, at least.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 25, 2021
The Wolverines need to win for the Ohio State game to be for all the marbles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2021
“But if I were to open up a jar and throw all the marbles, you’d have a hard time catching them all.”
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2019
The price had then risen to two shillings besides all the marbles Ambrose had in his pocket, and this being paid David had seized the kitten, and here it was.
From Penelope and the Others Story of Five Country Children by Brooke, L. Leslie (Leonard Leslie)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
