gold fever
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of gold fever
First recorded in 1840–50
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.
Across the continent, gold fever helped San Francisco vault onto the top-10 list in 1870.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
The pockmarked earth on Johannesburg's eastern fringe, until last week a humble cattle kraal ringed with barbed wire, now stands as the unlikely centre of South Africa's latest gold fever.
From Barron's ● Feb. 16, 2026
“The guys who catch Bigfoot gold fever, they become lost to it,” Pyle says.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 18, 2021
In 1800s California, a man in the grip of gold fever deserts his family to scour the hills for the precious metal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2019
My father caught the gold fever, and early in the spring of 1849 started with an ox-team across the plains to the gold-fields of California.
From Memoirs of Orange Jacobs by Jacobs, Orange
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.
