lose (one's) marbles
To be or become mentally deficient, incompetent, or deranged; to become of unsound mind. My poor grandmother started losing her marbles after she had a stroke. I've been so sleep deprived lately that it feels like I've lost my marbles!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
lose your marbles
INFORMALIf you lose your marbles, you become crazy. At 83 I haven't lost my marbles and my memory is, thank God, as clear as it ever was. People are talking about him as if he's lost his marbles. Note: You can also say that someone has all their marbles, meaning that they are not crazy. He's in his eighties but he clearly still has all his marbles.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
lose your marbles
go insane; become irrational or senile. informal Marbles as a term for ‘a person's mental faculties’ probably originated as early 20th-century American slang. The underlying reference is apparently to the children's game played with multicoloured glass balls.
1998 Spectator At least, that is how I recall the event, but I am losing my marbles.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
lose your ˈmarbles
(informal) become crazy or mentally confused: They say the old man has lost his marbles because of the strange things he’s been saying, but I’m not so sure.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017