What is the Meaning of “Marmalise”?  

The chances are pretty good that you don’t hear the word “marmalise” in everyday conversation, but maybe you’ve come across it in a novel, in a song, or overheard it in a bar or pub somewhere.

It’s a wild kind of word – marmalise – that gives you pause at first. But once you discover the meaning of the word “to utterly destroy or totally demolish” the definition seems almost obvious just by the way the word sounds.

Below we dig a little bit deeper into what the word “marmalise” really means, where it came from and how it’s used.

Let’s get right into it, shall we?

What is the Meaning of “Marmalise”?

As highlighted a moment ago, the meaning of the word marmalise is basically “to utterly destroy” or to “totally demolish”.

The Collins Dictionary (as well as Dictionary.com) defines the word this way:

“To beat soundly or utterly defeat; thrash”

As you might have guessed already, marmalise is a bit of slang and can be used in a number of creative ways.

For example, you might hear someone say that a football player was “marmalised” when a big hit happened. You might hear someone threatened to “marmalise” another person if a fight is brewing, too.

Sometimes friends will tell one another that they are about to be marmalised before a bit of friendly competition. It’s just a little bit of trash talk with that kind of context.

Where Did the Word Marmalise Come From??

Though it can be a little bit challenging to really pin down where the word marmalise came from originally, the generally agreed-upon origination of this phrase comes from England.

More specifically, Liverpool – and even more specifically than that the word is believed to have been cooked up by folks in pubs frequented by football hooligans (really, really passionate soccer fans).

A famous Liverpool-based comedian named Ken Dodd really helped to push this phrase into popular lexicon in the early to middle 1960s.

A bit of a hybrid between marmalade and pulverize, marmalise was a favorite phrase used by football hooligans that were taunting fans of other clubs.

Today, though, the word is used around the world – including in print, radio, TV shows, and movies. It’s just as common to hear this word get dropped by younger generations in New Zealand and Australia as it is to hear it from the older crowd still in Liverpool.

If you’re ever looking for a fun way to spice up your friendly taunts with friends don’t be shy about dropping an “I’ll marmalise you” the next time you think of it!

Conor