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.

---

gold rush British  

noun

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

---

Etymology

Origin of gold rush

An Americanism dating back to 1875–80

Example Sentences

Peak TV should have been a gold rush for writers and actors.

From Salon • Mar. 26, 2026

As almost everybody knows, the AI gold rush is upon us.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 26, 2026

For now, mining is largely done in ways reminiscent of the United States' gold rush in the 19th century, when so many ended up exhausted in a futile hunt for treasure.

From Barron's • Feb. 25, 2026

What she couldn’t have realized on that afternoon in the Dolomites was that her success would touch off a stunning gold rush for the rest of Team USA.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 23, 2026

Gates compared the Internet to the gold rush, the idea being that more money was made selling Levi’s, picks, shovels, and hotel rooms to the gold diggers than from digging up gold from the earth.

From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman