gold Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun coins made of gold
  2. noun a deep yellow color
    amber.
    • an amber light illuminated the room
    • he admired the gold of her hair
  3. noun a soft yellow malleable ductile (trivalent and univalent) metallic element; occurs mainly as nuggets in rocks and alluvial deposits; does not react with most chemicals but is attacked by chlorine and aqua regia
    atomic number 79; Au.
  4. noun great wealth
    • Whilst that for which all virtue now is sold, and almost every vice--almighty gold"--Ben Jonson
  5. noun something likened to the metal in brightness or preciousness or superiority etc.
    • the child was as good as gold
    • she has a heart of gold
  6. adjective satellite made from or covered with gold
    golden; gilded.
    • gold coins
    • the gold dome of the Capitol
    • the golden calf
    • gilded icons
  7. adjective satellite having the deep slightly brownish color of gold
    aureate; gilded; gilt; golden.
    • long aureate (or golden) hair
    • a gold carpet

WordNet

Gold, Golde, Goolde noun (Also<
  • Gold
  • Golde
  • Goolde
)
Definitions
  1. (Bot.) An old English name of some yellow flower, -- the marigold (Calendula), according to Dr. Prior, but in Chaucer perhaps the turnsole.
Gold noun
Etymology
AS. gold; akin to D. goud, OS. & G. gold, Icel. gull, Sw. & Dan. guld, Goth. gulp, Russ. & OSlav. zlato; prob. akin to E. yellow. . See Yellow, and cf. Gild, v. t.
Definitions
  1. (Chem.) A metallic element, constituting the most precious metal used as a common commercial medium of exchange. It has a characteristic yellow color, is one of the heaviest substances known (specific gravity 19.32), is soft, and very malleable and ductile. It is quite unalterable by heat, moisture, and most corrosive agents, and therefore well suited for its use in coin and jewelry. Symbol Au (Aurum). Atomic weight 196.7. ✍ Native gold contains usually eight to ten per cent of silver, but often much more. As the amount of silver increases, the color becomes whiter and the specific gravity lower. Gold is very widely disseminated, as in the sands of many rivers, but in very small quantity. It usually occurs in quartz veins (gold quartz), in slate and metamorphic rocks, or in sand and alluvial soil, resulting from the disintegration of such rocks. It also occurs associated with other metallic substances, as in auriferous pyrites, and is combined with tellurium in the minerals petzite, calaverite, sylvanite, etc. Pure gold is too soft for ordinary use, and is hardened by alloying with silver and copper, the latter giving a characteristic reddish tinge. [See Carat.] Gold also finds use in gold foil, in the pigment purple of Cassius, and in the chloride, which is used as a toning agent in photography.
  2. Money; riches; wealth.
    For me, the gold of France did not seduce. Shak.
  3. A yellow color, like that of the metal; as, a flower tipped with gold.
  4. Figuratively, something precious or pure; as, hearts of gold. Shak.

Webster 1913