1. (Chem.) A metallic element of atomic number 79, 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 (melting point 1064.4° C), moisture, and most corrosive agents, and therefore well suited for its use in coin and jewelry. Symbol Au (Aurum). Atomic weight 196.97. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Money; riches; wealth. [ 1913 Webster ]

For me, the gold of France did not seduce. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A yellow color, like that of the metal; as, a flower tipped with gold. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Figuratively, something precious or pure; as, hearts of gold. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Age of gold. See Golden age, under Golden. --
Dutch gold,
Fool's gold,
Gold dust, etc. See under Dutch, Dust, etc. --
Gold amalgam, a mineral, found in Columbia and California, composed of gold and mercury. --
Gold beater, one whose occupation is to beat gold into gold leaf. --
Gold beater's skin, the prepared outside membrane of the large intestine of the ox, used for separating the leaves of metal during the process of gold-beating. --
Gold beetle (Zool.), any small gold-colored beetle of the family Chrysomelidæ; -- called also golden beetle. --
Gold blocking, printing with gold leaf, as upon a book cover, by means of an engraved block. Knight. --
Gold cloth. See Cloth of gold, under Cloth. --
Gold Coast, a part of the coast of Guinea, in West Africa. --
Gold cradle. (Mining) See Cradle, n., 7. --
Gold diggings, the places, or region, where gold is found by digging in sand and gravel from which it is separated by washing. --
Gold end, a fragment of broken gold or jewelry. --
Gold-end man. (a) A buyer of old gold or jewelry. (b) A goldsmith's apprentice. (c) An itinerant jeweler. “I know him not: he looks like a gold-end man.” B. Jonson. --
Gold fever, a popular mania for gold hunting. --
Gold field, a region in which are deposits of gold. --
Gold finder. (a) One who finds gold. (b) One who empties privies. [ Obs. & Low ] Swift. --
Gold flower, a composite plant with dry and persistent yellow radiating involucral scales, the Helichrysum Stœchas of Southern Europe. There are many South African species of the same genus. --
Gold foil, thin sheets of gold, as used by dentists and others. See Gold leaf. --
Gold knobs or
Gold knoppes (Bot.), buttercups. --
Gold lace, a kind of lace, made of gold thread. --
Gold latten, a thin plate of gold or gilded metal. --
Gold leaf, gold beaten into a film of extreme thinness, and used for gilding, etc. It is much thinner than gold foil. --
Gold lode (Mining), a gold vein. --
Gold mine, a place where gold is obtained by mining operations, as distinguished from diggings, where it is extracted by washing. Cf. Gold diggings (above). --
Gold nugget, a lump of gold as found in gold mining or digging; -- called also a pepito. --
Gold paint. See Gold shell. --
Gold pheasant, or
Golden pheasant. (Zool.) See under Pheasant. --
Gold plate, a general name for vessels, dishes, cups, spoons, etc., made of gold. --
Gold of pleasure. [ Name perhaps translated from Sp. oro-de-alegria. ] (Bot.) A plant of the genus Camelina, bearing yellow flowers. C. sativa is sometimes cultivated for the oil of its seeds. --
Gold shell. (a) A composition of powdered gold or gold leaf, ground up with gum water and spread on shells, for artists' use; -- called also gold paint. (b) (Zool.) A bivalve shell (Anomia glabra) of the Atlantic coast; -- called also jingle shell and silver shell. See Anomia. --
Gold size, a composition used in applying gold leaf. --
Gold solder, a kind of solder, often containing twelve parts of gold, two of silver, and four of copper. --
Gold stick, the colonel of a regiment of English lifeguards, who attends his sovereign on state occasions; -- so called from the gilt rod presented to him by the sovereign when he receives his commission as colonel of the regiment. [ Eng. ] --
Gold thread. (a) A thread formed by twisting flatted gold over a thread of silk, with a wheel and iron bobbins; spun gold. Ure. (b) (Bot.) A small evergreen plant (Coptis trifolia), so called from its fibrous yellow roots. It is common in marshy places in the United States. --
Gold tissue, a tissue fabric interwoven with gold thread. --
Gold tooling, the fixing of gold leaf by a hot tool upon book covers, or the ornamental impression so made. --
Gold washings, places where gold found in gravel is separated from lighter material by washing. --
Gold worm, a glowworm. [ Obs. ] --
Jeweler's gold, an alloy containing three parts of gold to one of copper. --
Mosaic gold. See under Mosaic. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Made of gold; consisting of gold. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Having the color of gold; as, the golden grain. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Very precious; highly valuable; excellent; eminently auspicious; as, golden opinions. [ 1913 Webster ]

Golden age. (a) The fabulous age of primeval simplicity and purity of manners in rural employments, followed by the silver age, bronze age, and iron age. Dryden. (b) (Roman Literature) The best part (B. C. 81 -- A. D. 14) of the classical period of Latinity; the time when Cicero, Cæsar, Virgil, etc., wrote. Hence: (c) That period in the history of a literature, etc., when it flourishes in its greatest purity or attains its greatest glory; as, the Elizabethan age has been considered the golden age of English literature. --
Golden balls, three gilt balls used as a sign of a pawnbroker's office or shop; -- originally taken from the coat of arms of Lombardy, the first money lenders in London having been Lombards. --
Golden bull. See under Bull, an edict. --
Golden chain (Bot.), the shrub Cytisus Laburnum, so named from its long clusters of yellow blossoms. --
Golden club (Bot.), an aquatic plant (Orontium aquaticum), bearing a thick spike of minute yellow flowers. --
Golden cup (Bot.), the buttercup. --
Golden eagle (Zool.), a large and powerful eagle (Aquila Chrysaëtos) inhabiting Europe, Asia, and North America. It is so called from the brownish yellow tips of the feathers on the head and neck. A dark variety is called the royal eagle; the young in the second year is the ring-tailed eagle. --
Golden fleece. (a) (Mythol.) The fleece of gold fabled to have been taken from the ram that bore Phryxus through the air to Colchis, and in quest of which Jason undertook the Argonautic expedition. (b) (Her.) An order of knighthood instituted in 1429 by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy; -- called also Toison d'Or. --
Golden grease, a bribe; a fee. [ Slang ] --
Golden hair (Bot.), a South African shrubby composite plant with golden yellow flowers, the Chrysocoma Coma-aurea. --
Golden Horde (Hist.), a tribe of Mongolian Tartars who overran and settled in Southern Russia early in the 18th century. --
Golden Legend, a hagiology (the “Aurea Legenda”) written by James de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, in the 13th century, translated and printed by Caxton in 1483, and partially paraphrased by Longfellow in a poem thus entitled. --
Golden marcasite tin. [ Obs. ] --
Golden mean, the way of wisdom and safety between extremes; sufficiency without excess; moderation. [ 1913 Webster ] Angels guard him in the golden mean. Pope. --
Golden mole (Zool), one of several South African Insectivora of the family Chrysochloridæ, resembling moles in form and habits. The fur is tinted with green, purple, and gold. --
Golden number (Chronol.), a number showing the year of the lunar or Metonic cycle. It is reckoned from 1 to 19, and is so called from having formerly been written in the calendar in gold. --
Golden oriole. (Zool.) See Oriole. --
Golden pheasant. See under Pheasant. --
Golden pippin, a kind of apple, of a bright yellow color. --
Golden plover (Zool.), one of several species of plovers, of the genus Charadrius, esp. the European (Charadrius apricarius, syn. Charadrius pluvialis; -- called also yellow plover, black-breasted plover, hill plover, and whistling plover. The common American species (Charadrius dominicus) is also called frostbird, and bullhead. --
Golden robin. (Zool.) See Baltimore oriole, in Vocab. --
Golden rose (R. C. Ch.), a gold or gilded rose blessed by the pope on the fourth Sunday in Lent, and sent to some church or person in recognition of special services rendered to the Holy See. --
Golden rule. (a) The rule of doing as we would have others do to us. Cf. Luke vi. 31. (b) The rule of proportion, or rule of three. --
Golden samphire (Bot.), a composite plant (Inula crithmoides), found on the seashore of Europe. --
Golden saxifrage (Bot.), a low herb with yellow flowers (Chrysosplenium oppositifolium), blossoming in wet places in early spring. --
Golden seal (Bot.), a perennial ranunculaceous herb (Hydrastis Canadensis), with a thick knotted rootstock and large rounded leaves. --
Golden sulphide of antimony, or
Golden sulphuret of antimony (Chem.), the pentasulphide of antimony, a golden or orange yellow powder. --
Golden warbler (Zool.), a common American wood warbler (Dendroica æstiva); -- called also blue-eyed yellow warbler, garden warbler, and summer yellow bird. --
Golden wasp (Zool.), a bright-colored hymenopterous insect, of the family Chrysididæ. The colors are golden, blue, and green. --
Golden wedding. See under Wedding. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any of various much-branched yellow-flowered shrubs of the genus Chrysothamnus, growing in Western North America. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

Golden-rod tree (Bot.), a shrub (Bosea Yervamora), a native of the Canary Isles. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: [ metaphorically ] Some object that is difficult to catch, or a goal that is difficult to achieve. [ PJC ]

☞ The name is also applied to other yellow finches, esp. to several additional American species of Spinus. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A banker. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The goldsmiths of London formerly received money on deposit because they were prepared to keep it safely. [ 1913 Webster ]

Goldsmith beetle (Zool.), a large, bright yellow, American beetle (Cotalpa lanigera), of the family Scarabæidæ [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ There are several yellow-flowered plants of different genera bearing this name; as, the African marigold or French marigold of the genus Tagetes, of which several species and many varieties are found in gardens. They are mostly strong-smelling herbs from South America and Mexico: bur marigold, of the genus Bidens; corn marigold, of the genus Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum segetum, a pest in the cornfields of Italy); fig marigold, of the genus Mesembryanthemum; marsh marigold, of the genus Caltha (Caltha palustris), commonly known in America as the cowslip. See Marsh Marigold. [ 1913 Webster ]

Marigold window. (Arch.) See Rose window, under Rose. [ 1913 Webster ]