gold dust
Americannoun
noun
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gold in the form of small particles or powder, as found in placer-mining
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a valuable or rare thing
tickets for this match are gold dust
Etymology
Origin of gold dust
First recorded in 1695–1705
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.
Samuel Brannan proclaimed in 1848, trotting a bottle of gold dust around San Francisco and effectively kicking off the Gold Rush.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
Information about what consumers are looking for in the resale market is gold dust for luxury brands trying to figure out what shoppers want to buy now.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 19, 2025
Professor Mahesh Anand is the only scientist in the UK to have been loaned this extremely rare material, which he describes as "more precious than gold dust".
From BBC • May 8, 2025
"They're basically like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They're gold dust, but I think it's a bit of a blood bath to get tickets," she said.
From BBC • Jul. 23, 2024
“Was that why I fought my way out of Durango? Was that why I built an empire greater than El Dorado’s? El Dorado bathed in gold dust every day. Did you know that?”
From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
