all the marbles
Americanidiom
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the most or highest degree of what can be won, gained, etc.; everything that is to be had.
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(as for all the marbles
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(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
“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
“If we can make our way through competition on Sunday, qualify well … and match up in the final round for all the marbles, that would be a dream come true,” Anderson said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2016
For when I'm talking with you, Cornelius, I feel like a boy who lends back all the marbles he's won, and plays again, just for the sake of the game.
From Three Plays by Padraic Colum
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.
