goldilocks

[gohl-dee-loks]

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.

Origin of goldilocks

1540–50; obsolete goldy golden + lock² + -s³; from the fairy tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears, in which the golden-haired Goldilocks rejects uncomfortable extremes, as porridge that is too hot or too cold

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for goldilocks

Contemporary Examples of goldilocks

She is not too hot or too cold, but just right, the Goldilocks of Fed chairs.
Janet Yellen Won’t Change the Fed
Russ Roberts
October 9, 2013
This sort of calculation—not too hot, not too cold—is better left to Goldilocks.
Is Obama Going to War Just to ‘Check the Box’?
Lloyd Green
August 31, 2013
It afforded the president the Goldilocks alternative in his next debate, where he can cast his attacks in just the right tone.
Joe Biden vs. Paul Ryan: the Yin and Yang Debate
Brett O’Donnell
October 12, 2012
The Atlantic, 3,000 miles across, became a kind of Goldilocks Ocean, not too big and not too small.
Why the West Rules—For Now
Ian Morris
December 25, 2010
This year, the theme was "Just Right," inspired loosely on the story of Goldilocks.
Live From Art Basel
Isabel Wilkinson
December 4, 2010

Historical Examples of goldilocks

"Don't cry, Goldilocks," he said tenderly, bending over her.
Good Indian
B. M. Bower
So she read 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' to us three times.
Jerry's Charge Account
Hazel Hutchins Wilson
He was to speak a poem to introduce the play about Goldilocks.
Jerry's Charge Account
Hazel Hutchins Wilson
Well, Goldilocks, you must not put chairs out of their places!
Dramatic Reader for Lower Grades
Florence Holbrook
Dear Goldilocks, please, don't you think we'd better go home?
Dramatic Reader for Lower Grades
Florence Holbrook

British Dictionary definitions for goldilocks

goldilocks

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

Word Origin and History for goldilocks

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.