gild the lily

Cultural  

1. To adorn unnecessarily something that is already beautiful or perfect: “Morty had us all believing his tall tale until he couldn't resist gilding the lily.”

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gild the lily Idioms  

1. Add unnecessary adornment or supposed improvement. For example, Offering three different desserts after that elaborate meal would be gilding the lily. This expression is a condensation of Shakespeare's metaphor in King John (4:2): “To gild refined gold, to paint the lily ... is wasteful and ridiculous excess.” [c. 1800]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gild the lily

The norm at U.S. companies is for management to gild the lily, knowing the analysts at big Wall Street brokers will relay the spin as their own.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

“The challenge of it was to try to go to that place but not gild the lily too much,” Scott says.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 9, 2024

But truly, there's no reason to gild the lily, so I think I'll go on making it just as my Nana and my mom did — and I wouldn't have it any other way.

From Salon ● Nov. 30, 2021

No need to gild the lily with endless words: Zion Williamson has played three NBA preseason games, and it's already clear that he's going to be one of the best players of his generation.

From Golf Digest ● Oct. 14, 2019

And if we wonder at the way in which they seem to gild the lily, they would wonder quite as much at the way we gild the weed.

From The New Jerusalem by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

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