Showing results for gold leaf. Search instead for Gold+Leaf.

gold leaf

American

noun

gold in the form of very thin foil, as for gilding.

gold leaf British

noun

very thin gold sheet with a thickness usually between 0.076 and 0.127 micrometre, produced by rolling or hammering gold and used for gilding woodwork, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

gold-leaf

adjective

Etymology

Origin of gold leaf

First recorded in 1720–30

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Remember, it’s gold leaf: Below the gilding, the rest of the figure is made of bronze.

From Slate • Jun. 2, 2026

Carving the intricate statues, which are often adorned with bright paint and gold leaf, was an art he learned from his father as a teenager.

From Barron's • Jan. 19, 2026

Trump also added touches of gilded gold all over the Oval Office, including additional portraits framed in gold, gold-framed mirrors and a gold leaf for the presidential seal on the ceiling of the office.

From BBC • Nov. 1, 2025

A priest took the documents and lightly tapped them against the statue, which was swathed in flowers and tucked behind three doorways framed in gold leaf carvings of Hindu gods.

From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 15, 2025

Nor were they of smooth gold leaf as in reality, but were patterned instead in fish-scale tiles of darker gold and brighter, so the sun didn’t merely glint on them.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023