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definitions

gilded

[gil-did]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR gilded ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

covered or highlighted with gold or something of a golden color.
having a pleasing or showy appearance that conceals something of little worth.

RELATED WORDS

luxurious, ornate, festooned, aureate, gaudy, meretricious, prosperous, tawdry

Origin of gilded

before 1000; gild1 + -ed2; replacing Middle English gild, Old English gegyld
Related formsnon·gild·ed, adjectiveun·gild·ed, adjective
Can be confusedgilded golden

gild

1
[gild]

verb (used with object), gild·ed or gilt, gild·ing.

to coat with gold, gold leaf, or a gold-colored substance.
to give a bright, pleasing, or specious aspect to.
Archaic. to make red, as with blood.

Origin of gild

1
1300–50; Middle English gilden, Old English -gyldan; akin to gold
Related formsgild·a·ble, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for gilded

Contemporary Examples of gilded

Historical Examples of gilded

  • There were other and still other banners, in velvet or in satin, balanced at the end of gilded batons.

    The Dream

    Emile Zola

  • These were the little familiar deeds which gilded his name among the people.

    Meadow Grass

    Alice Brown

  • The trap was not gilded, and he was very uncomfortable in it.

  • It is like the gilded poison that undermines the human frame.

    Imogen

    William Godwin

  • But all in vain—she had to go back and sit on her gilded couch.

    Cleo The Magnificent

    Louis Zangwill

British Dictionary definitions for gilded

gild

1

verb gilds, gilding, gilded or gilt (ɡɪlt) (tr)

to cover with or as if with gold
gild the lily
  1. to adorn unnecessarily something already beautiful
  2. to praise someone inordinately
to give a falsely attractive or valuable appearance to
archaic to smear with blood
Derived Formsgilder, noun

Word Origin for gild

Old English gyldan, from gold gold; related to Old Norse gylla, Middle High German vergülden

gild

2

noun

a variant spelling of guild (def. 2)
Derived Formsgildsman, noun
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
Word Origin and History for gilded
adj.

1560s (late Old English had gegylde); in modern use the more dignified past participle of gild (q.v.). Shakespeare's lilies were never gilded; the quote ("King John," iv.2) is, "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily."

gild

v.

Old English gyldan "to gild, to cover with a thin layer of gold," from Proto-Germanic *gulthianan (cf. Old Norse gylla "to gild," Old High German ubergulden "to cover with gold"), from *gulthan "gold" (see gold). Related: Gilded; gilding. Figuratively from 1590s.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper