goldilocks
[ gohl-dee-loks ]
/ ˈgoʊl diˌlɒks /
|
noun, plural gold·i·locks.
(used with a singular verb) a person with golden hair.
adjective
(usually initial capital letter) not being extreme or not varying drastically between extremes, especially between hot and cold: a Goldilocks economy that is neither overheated nor too cold to cause a recession; a goldilocks planet such as Earth.See also Goldilocks zone.
RELATED CONTENT
Whose Vs. Who’sWhat do who’s and whose mean? Whose is the possessive form of the pronoun who, while who’s is a contraction of the words who is or who has. However, many people still find whose and who’s particularly confusing because, in English, an apostrophe followed by an s usually indicates the possessive form of a word. (For example, a purse belonging to a woman is “the woman’s purse.”) Not the case here, though. So, to help clarify further, watch this video that illustrates the differences …
Nearby words
- goldfish,
- goldfish bowl,
- goldflam disease,
- goldi,
- goldie's fern,
- goldilocks zone,
- golding,
- goldman,
- goldman, edwin franko,
- goldman, emma
Origin of goldilocks
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for goldilocks
goldilocks
/ (ˈɡəʊldɪˌlɒks) /
noun (functioning as singular)
a Eurasian plant, Aster linosyris (or Linosyris vulgaris), with clusters of small yellow flowers: family Asteraceae (composites)
a Eurasian ranunculaceous woodland plant, Ranunculus auricomus, with yellow flowersSee also buttercup
(sometimes capital) a person, esp a girl, with light blond hair
(modifier; sometimes capital) not prone to extremes of temperature, volatility, etca goldilocks planet; a goldilocks economy
Word Origin for goldilocks
(for sense 4): C20: from the fairy tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears, in which the heroine prefers the porridge that is neither too hot nor too cold
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Goldilocks
name for a person with bright yellow hair, 1540s, from adj. form of gold + lock in the hair sense. The story of the Three Bears first was printed in Robert Southey's miscellany "The Doctor" (1837), but the central figure there was a bad-tempered old woman. Southey did not claim to have invented the story, and older versions have been traced, either involving an old woman or a "silver-haired" girl (though in at least one version it is a fox who enters the house). The identification of the girl as Goldilocks is attested only from c.1875.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper