coins made of gold
"The king kept his entire fortune hidden inside a chest overflowing with ancient gold coins."
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
"The ancient miners carefully separated the gold from the surrounding rock to create valuable nuggets."
great wealth
"Whilst that for which all virtue now is sold, and almost every vice--almighty gold"
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"
A heavy yellow elemental metal of great value, with atomic number 79 and symbol Au.
"The museum security team rushed to secure the ancient gold artifact after noticing a crack in its casing."
In plain English: Gold is a shiny yellow metal that people use to make jewelry and coins because it does not rust or tarnish easily.
Usage: Use "gold" to refer to the precious yellow metal used in jewelry, currency, or electronics when discussing its physical form or monetary value. Do not use it as an adjective to describe other items unless you specifically mean they are made of this metal.
To pyrolyze or burn food until the color begins to change to a light brown, but not as dark as browning
"She carefully watched the toast in the toaster oven until it turned gold."
In plain English: To gold something means to cover it with a thin layer of real gold.
"After years of hard work, he finally gold-plated his career with a major industry award."
Usage: Do not use "gold" as a verb to describe cooking; instead, say that you are browning, caramelizing, or toasting the food. The term is reserved exclusively for describing a precious metal or its color, never an action performed on ingredients.
Made of gold.
"The refinery manager inspected the freshly smelted gold before sending it to the mint for coin production."
In a finished state, ready for manufacturing.
In plain English: Gold describes something that is extremely valuable, rare, or of the highest quality.
"The old couple celebrated their golden anniversary with a fancy dinner."
Usage: Use "gold" to describe something that is finished and ready for use or sale, such as gold-standard work or gold-ready inventory. Do not confuse this figurative sense of being complete with the literal color yellow or the precious metal itself.
of or referring to a gold version of something
"When you upgrade your standard smartphone case, it comes in several finishes, including a sleek gold version that matches my watch perfectly."
In plain English: Gold describes something that is the color and appearance of the precious metal, gold.
"The gold standard for quality has been raised so high that no other product can compete."
Usage: Use "gold" as an adverb only in informal contexts to describe doing something with great effort or success, such as working hard until you achieve the best result. Avoid using it literally to mean made of the metal when describing an action.
An English surname, from occupations for a goldsmith or a rich man.
"After years of running a local bakery, Arthur decided to take his last name off the storefront sign and simply introduce himself as Gold at every family gathering."
The word gold comes from Old English and originally referred to the precious metal. Its roots trace back to a Proto-Indo-European term meaning "gold" that was also connected to the color green or yellow.