# gold

Pronunciation: say "GOHLD" US /ɡoʊld/, UK /ɡəʊld/

## Noun

1. A heavy yellow metallic element of great value, with atomic number 79 and the chemical symbol Au.
   - Simple: A heavy, shiny yellow metal that is worth a lot of money.
   - _Gold has been prized for jewelry and currency for thousands of years._
   - _The wedding ring was made of pure gold._
2. A first-place medal, awarded to the winner of a competition.
   - Simple: A medal given for coming in first place.
   - _He took gold at the national championships for the third time._
   - _Their gymnasts brought home four golds from the meet._
5. A deep shade of yellow that resembles the color of gold metal.
   - Simple: A deep yellow color, like the metal gold.
   - _The painter mixed a warm gold for the glow of the sunset._
   - _She trimmed the invitation in gold to make it feel festive._
7. Someone or something regarded as extremely valuable or precious.
   - Simple: Someone or something that is very valuable or very good.
   - _A reliable teammate like her is gold under pressure._
   - _The unpublished interviews turned out to be gold for the documentary._
9. A coin or coinage made of the metal gold, or supposedly so.
   - Simple: Coins or money made of the metal gold.
   - _Soldiers were paid in gold during the long campaign._
   - _The merchant counted out forty pieces of gold and laid them on the counter for the silk._
11. The bullseye of an archery target; the central, highest-scoring zone.
   - Simple: The center circle of an archery target, worth the most points.
   - _She placed three arrows in the gold to clinch the round._
   - _A single hit in the gold can decide a close match._
12. A decorative covering of gold worn over the front teeth; a gold grill. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A covering of gold worn over the front teeth as jewelry.
   - _He had his golds fitted by a custom jeweler downtown._
   - _The rapper's golds caught the light every time he spoke._

## Adjective

3. Having the color of gold; a rich, deep yellow.
   - Simple: Having a deep yellow color, like gold.
   - _The sky glowed gold over the hills at sunset._
   - _His tie was gold with thin diagonal stripes._
4. Made of gold.
   - Simple: Made out of real gold.
   - _The king drank from a gold cup at every banquet._
   - _A thin gold chain hung around her neck._
6. Premium and of superior quality.
   - Simple: Of higher quality than the ordinary kind.
   - _The airline reserves its gold lounge for frequent flyers._
   - _Their gold warranty covers repairs for a full five years._
8. Of a musical recording, having reached the sales level, including streaming equivalents, required for gold certification, such as 500,000 units in the US.
   - Simple: Of a song or album that has sold or streamed enough to earn a gold award, like 500,000 units in the US.
   - _The band celebrated when their debut went gold overseas._
   - _Two tracks from the EP were certified gold this year._
10. Of a product or software, in a finished state, ready for manufacturing or release.
   - Simple: Describes a product or program that is finished and ready to be made or sold.
   - _The studio announced that the title had gone gold two weeks before launch._
   - _Engineers froze the code the moment the build went gold._

## Other meanings

- (verb) To appear golden, or to make something appear golden.
- (adjective) Of academic publishing: involving an open-access model in which the publisher makes the final article free to read, and usually to reuse, on its own site as soon as it is published.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–9, 11–12** — From Middle English gold, from Old English gold, going back through Proto-Germanic *gulþą to a Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰelh₃- meaning "green, yellow." It is related to the word yellow, and has cognates such as Dutch goud, German Gold, and Swedish guld.
**Meaning 10** — Software makers call the copy of the code that is approved for release the "gold master," and this sense grew out of that term.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/gold (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).