marla

From Irish marla, from Middle English marle. Doublet of marl.

marla (uncountable)

1. (Ireland) Plasticine; modelling clay.
   • 1996, Thomas Kinsella, Model School, Inchicore: Collected Poems, 1956-1994, page 229:

     Miss Carney handed us out blank paper and marla,
     old plasticine with the colours
     all rolled together into brown.

   • 1997, Catherine Dunne, In the Beginning, page 107:

     As she sits and plays with Damien, she feels her legs start to tremble from the effort. Her knees seem to disappear.
     Plasticine legs, she says to Damien. Old marla legs.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• mala, maala

marla (plural marlas)

1. (Australia) A rufous hare-wallaby (Lagorchestes hirsutus), a small desert marsupial of Australia.

• rufous hare-wallaby on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

marla (plural marlas)

1. A unit of area used in the Indian subcontinent.

• LRAAM, Lamar, alarm, malar, ramal

• márla (superseded)

From Middle English marle, from Old French marle, from Late Latin margila, diminutive of marga (“marl”).[1]

marla m (genitive singular marla)

1. marl (mixed earthy substance)

   Synonym: móta liath

2. modeling clay, plasticine

• marla buí (“yellow subsoil”)
• marla múnlaithe (“loam”)

• → English: marla

• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “marla”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “marla”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 468
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “marla”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN