goldilocks
[gohl-dee-loks]
- (used with a singular verb) a person with golden hair.
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- (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.
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Origin of goldilocks
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for goldilocks
Contemporary Examples
She is not too hot or too cold, but just right, the Goldilocks of Fed chairs.
This sort of calculation—not too hot, not too cold—is better left to Goldilocks.
It afforded the president the Goldilocks alternative in his next debate, where he can cast his attacks in just the right tone.
The Atlantic, 3,000 miles across, became a kind of Goldilocks Ocean, not too big and not too small.
This year, the theme was "Just Right," inspired loosely on the story of Goldilocks.
Historical Examples
"Don't cry, Goldilocks," he said tenderly, bending over her.
Good IndianB. M. Bower
So she read 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' to us three times.
Jerry's Charge AccountHazel Hutchins Wilson
He was to speak a poem to introduce the play about Goldilocks.
Jerry's Charge AccountHazel Hutchins Wilson
Well, Goldilocks, you must not put chairs out of their places!
Dramatic Reader for Lower GradesFlorence Holbrook
Dear Goldilocks, please, don't you think we'd better go home?
Dramatic Reader for Lower GradesFlorence Holbrook
goldilocks
- 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
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Word Origin
(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
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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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper