D defs.my
Entry 5 senses · 2 variants Webster, 1913

Gold

/(gōld)/ · IPA /ɡoʊld/
01 n. An old English name of some yellow flower, -- the marigold (Calendula), according to Dr. Prior, but in Chaucer perhaps the turnsole.
  1. 1.
    An old English name of some yellow flower, -- the marigold (Calendula), according to Dr. Prior, but in Chaucer perhaps the turnsole.(Bot.)
02 n. A metallic element of atomic number 79, constituting the most precious metal used as a common commercial medium of exchange. It has a chara…
  1. 1.
    A metallic element of atomic number 79, constituting the most precious metal used as a common commercial medium of exchange. It has a characteristic yellow color, is one of the heaviest substances known (specific gravity 19.32), is soft, and very malleable and ductile. It is quite unalterable by heat (melting point 1064.4° C), moisture, and most corrosive agents, and therefore well suited for its use in coin and jewelry. Symbol Au (Aurum). Atomic weight 196.97.(Chem.) Also: Aurum
  2. 2.
    Money; riches; wealth.
    “For me, the gold of France did not seduce.” Shak.
  3. 3.
    A yellow color, like that of the metal; as, a flower tipped with gold.
  4. 4.
    Figuratively, something precious or pure; as, hearts of gold.
Phrases & compounds
Age of gold — See Golden age, under Golden.
Dutch gold — See under Dutch, Dust, etc.
Gold amalgam — a mineral, found in Columbia and California, composed of gold and mercury.
Gold beater — one whose occupation is to beat gold into gold leaf.
Gold beater's skin — the prepared outside membrane of the large intestine of the ox, used for separating the leaves of metal during the process of gold-beating.
Gold beetle — any small gold-colored beetle of the family Chrysomelidæ; -- called also golden beetle.
Gold blocking — printing with gold leaf, as upon a book cover, by means of an engraved block.
Gold cloth — See Cloth of gold, under Cloth.
Gold Coast — a part of the coast of Guinea, in West Africa.
Gold cradle — See Cradle, n., 7.
Gold diggings — the places, or region, where gold is found by digging in sand and gravel from which it is separated by washing.
Gold end — a fragment of broken gold or jewelry.
Gold-end man — A buyer of old gold or jewelry.
Gold fever — a popular mania for gold hunting.
Gold field — a region in which are deposits of gold.
Gold finder — One who finds gold.
Gold flower — a composite plant with dry and persistent yellow radiating involucral scales, the Helichrysum Stœchas of Southern Europe. There are many South African species of the same genus.
Gold foil — thin sheets of gold, as used by dentists and others. See Gold leaf.
Gold knobs — buttercups.
Gold lace — a kind of lace, made of gold thread.
Gold latten — a thin plate of gold or gilded metal.
Gold leaf — gold beaten into a film of extreme thinness, and used for gilding, etc. It is much thinner than gold foil.
Gold lode — a gold vein.
Gold mine — a place where gold is obtained by mining operations, as distinguished from diggings, where it is extracted by washing. Cf. Gold diggings (above).
Gold nugget — a lump of gold as found in gold mining or digging; -- called also a pepito.
Gold paint — See Gold shell.
Gold pheasant — See under Pheasant.
Gold plate — a general name for vessels, dishes, cups, spoons, etc., made of gold.
Gold of pleasure — A plant of the genus Camelina, bearing yellow flowers. C. sativa is sometimes cultivated for the oil of its seeds.
Gold shell — A composition of powdered gold or gold leaf, ground up with gum water and spread on shells, for artists' use; -- called also gold paint.
Gold size — a composition used in applying gold leaf.
Gold solder — a kind of solder, often containing twelve parts of gold, two of silver, and four of copper.
Gold stick — the colonel of a regiment of English lifeguards, who attends his sovereign on state occasions; -- so called from the gilt rod presented to him by the sovereign when he receives his commission as colonel of the regiment.
Gold thread — A thread formed by twisting flatted gold over a thread of silk, with a wheel and iron bobbins; spun gold.
Gold tissue — a tissue fabric interwoven with gold thread.
Gold tooling — the fixing of gold leaf by a hot tool upon book covers, or the ornamental impression so made.
Gold washings — places where gold found in gravel is separated from lighter material by washing.
Gold worm — a glowworm.
Jeweler's gold — an alloy containing three parts of gold to one of copper.
Mosaic gold — See under Mosaic.