Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Having the color of gold: Describing something that has a deep, slightly brownish-yellow color resembling that of gold.
   • Covered with a thin layer of gold: Describing an object that has been coated or overlaid with gold or a gold-like substance.

2. Noun:

   • A coating of gold or a gold-colored substance: A thin layer of gold, or a material that imitates the appearance of gold, applied to a surface.
   • Young female pig: (A specialized, less common meaning) A young sow that has not yet farrowed.

Usage and Examples

• Adjective:

  • The church's dome was gilt, shining brilliantly in the sun.
  • She admired the gilt frame of the antique mirror.

• Noun (coating):

  • The gilt on the picture frame was starting to wear off.
  • The statue was not solid gold, but it had a fine layer of gilt.

• Noun (animal):

  • The farmer separated the gilts from the boars in the pen.

Advanced Usage and Notes

• "To take the gilt off the gingerbread": This is an idiom meaning to spoil the illusion, to reveal the disappointing reality behind an attractive appearance.
  • Finding out the job had such long hours really took the gilt off the gingerbread.
• The adjective gilt is often used in art, architecture, and decoration to describe surfaces that are gold-leafed or gold-painted.
• As a noun referring to a coating, it is often used in the context of restoration and antiques.

Variants and Related Words

• Gild (verb): To cover thinly with gold.
  • Artisans were hired to gild the ceiling.
• Gilded (adjective): Covered with a thin layer of gold; often used metaphorically to mean wealthy or deceptively attractive.
  • They lived in the gilded world of high society.
• Gilt-edged (adjective): Literally having edges trimmed with gold; figuratively, of the highest quality or reliability (often used for securities).
  • He invested in gilt-edged bonds.

Synonyms

• Adjective (color): Golden, aureate, gold-colored.
• Adjective (coated): Gold-plated, gilded, gold-leafed.
• Noun (coating): Gliding, gold leaf, veneer.

Antonyms

• Adjective: Tarnished, dull, unadorned.
• Noun (coating): Base metal, undercoat.

Adjective

1. having the deep slightly brownish color of gold
   • long aureate (or golden) hair
   • a gold carpet

Noun

1. a coating of gold or of something that looks like gold