E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Marrow-bones.
Down on your marrow-bones, i.e. knees. That marrow in this phrase is not a corruption of “Mary,” meaning the Virgin, is palpable from the analogous phrase, the marrow-bone stage—walking. The leg-bone is the marrow-bone of beef and mutton, and the play is on Marylebone (London).
