gold rush

American  

noun

• gold rushes
  plural

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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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• gold rushes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of gold rush

An Americanism dating back to 1875–80

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gold rush

The prestige TV gold rush inspired plenty of marquee stars to jump ship, taking roles from deep-pocketed streamers for niche audiences.

From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2026

The first is that miners abandoned some donkeys in the region during the gold rush; the second is that a group of ranchers drove over a population of burros from Death Valley in the 1950s.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

Did a goat herder's lucky $200 nugget spark a gold rush in western Kenya?

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

Johannesburg -- reported to be the richest city in Africa -- was born from a gold rush in the 1880s.

From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 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

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