gold rush

American  

noun

1. a large-scale and hasty movement of people to a region where gold has been discovered, as to California in 1849.

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gold rush British  

noun

1. a large-scale migration of people to a territory where gold has been found

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Etymology

Origin of gold rush

An Americanism dating back to 1875–80

Example Sentences

They include a nugget from the California gold rush; an 1879 lightbulb by Thomas Edison; a mainframe component from ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic computer that was built in 1946 and weighed 30 tons.

From Barron's • May 29, 2026

Nilton Tubino, appointed by Lula's government to lead operations to protect Indigenous territories, told AFP that a "new gold rush" was fueling illegal mining across the Amazon.

From Barron's • May 29, 2026

Now, as Big Tech corners the hardware market and drives up component prices, gamers worry that the AI gold rush is coming at their direct expense.

From MarketWatch • May 23, 2026

With the NIL gold rush and college transfer portal, parents around the country are lobbying legislators for more flexibility in high school.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 10, 2026

This was the gold rush for geeks, a special time in history, the Internet moment, and he was primed to take advantage of that, to stake his claim.

From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz