gold

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A soft, yellow, corrosion-resistant element, the most malleable and ductile metal, occurring in veins and alluvial deposits and recovered by mining or by panning or sluicing. A good thermal and electrical conductor, gold is generally alloyed to increase its strength, and it is used as an international monetary standard, in jewelry, for decoration, and as a plated coating on a wide variety of electrical and mechanical components. Atomic number 79; atomic weight 196.967; melting point 1,063.0°C; boiling point 2,966.0°C; specific gravity 19.32; valence 1, 3. See Table at element.
2. n. Coinage made of this element.
3. n. A gold standard.
4. n. Money; riches.
5. n. A light olive-brown to dark yellow, or a moderate, strong to vivid yellow.
6. n. Something regarded as having great value or goodness: a heart of gold.
7. n. A medal made of gold awarded to one placing first in a competition, as in the Olympics: won 9 golds in 13 events.
8. n. A gold record.
9. adj. Having the color of gold.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Chemical symbol, Au; atomic weight, 196.7. A precious metal remarkable on account of its unique and beautiful yellow color, luster, high specific gravity, and freedom from liability to rust or tarnish when exposed to the air. The specific gravity of pure gold is 19.3. Gold stands first among the metals in point of ductility and malleability. Its tenacity is almost equal to that of silver, two thirds that of copper, and, twelve times that of lead. It may be beaten into leaves thin enough to transmit a greenish light. It stands next to silver and copper as a conductor of heat and electricity; its melting-point is about 1,100° C. (or 2,000° F.); it is not attacked by any of the ordinary acids, but combines readily with chlorin; and it is dissolved by a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids. The crystalline form of gold is isometric, but crystallized gold is a rarity, and it is extremely uncommon to find crystals with smooth faces and sharp edges. Neither have any very large crystals ever been noticed, nor one so much as an inch in diameter. Arborescent masses, showing irregularly developed crystalline planes, are occasionally found, and such forms are sometimes aggregated into large masses; but much the larger part of the native gold found is entirely destitute of any appearance of crystallization, being usually in the form of small scales, which are often so minute as to be almost invisible to the naked eye. Larger rounded masses, called nuggets, are occasionally met with, and these are sometimes many pounds in weight. A specimen from the Ural preserved in the collection of the mining school at St. Petersburg weighs nearly a hundred pounds. The largest nugget of which there is any record was found in Australia, and was called the “Welcome,” It weighed over 184 pounds, contained by assay 99.2 per cent, of gold, and netted a value when melted of $46,625. Gold is a widely disseminated metal, but does not occur anywhere in large quantities, as compared with the ordinary useful metals. There is no proper ore of gold, this metal being never, so far as known, mineralized by sulphur or oxygen. Although gold is disseminated in fine and usually invisible particles through various ores of the other metals, and in many cases in quantity great enough to be separated with profit, most of the gold of the world is obtained either in the form of native gold, from washing the superficial detritus (sand and gravel), or by separating it from quartz, with which mineral it is almost invariably associated when occurring in veins or segregations in the solid rocks. Native gold is, however, in fact, an alloy of gold with silver, and traces of copper and iron are often associated with it. No native gold entirely free from silver has ever been found. The amount of the latter metal present in the gold varies greatly in different regions. The gold of California usually contains from 10 to 12 per cent of silver; that of Australia rather less than half as much. The native gold of Mount Morgan, Queensland, approaches more nearly to chemical purity than any hitherto discovered, since it contains 99.7 per cent of gold, and only a minute trace of silver. Pure gold is very rarely used in the arts. All gold coin and gold ornaments in use are alloys of gold with copper, or with copper and silver. The alloy is used, in the case of coin, because pure gold is too soft to bear rough usage; and for the same reason, as well as to diminish the cost, in the case of gold used for personal ornaments. The coin of (England is composed of 11 parts of gold and 1 of copper; that of France and the United States of 9 of gold and 1 of copper. The so-called gold used for jewels and watch-cases varies from 8 or 9 to 18 carats fine. (See carat, 3.) The alloys of gold with copper and silver are given various shades of color by treatment with chemicals, according to fashion or fancy. Gold has been in use for ornamental purposes from the earliest times.
2. n. Hence, figuratively Money; riches; wealth.
3. n. Anything very valuable or highly prized; anything regarded as very precious, or as of pure or sterling quality.
4. n. A bright-yellow color, like that of the metal gold; also, gilding: as, a flower edged with gold.
5. n. In archery, the exact center of the target, so called because marked with gold, or of a gold color; hence, a shot that strikes the center: as, to secure a gold.
6. n. [English dial. also goolds (ef. Sc. gool, gule, gules, the corn-marigold), ⟨ ME. gold, goold, guld, merely a particular use of gold, the metal. Cf. marigold.] The marigold, Calendula officinalis.
7. n. Tho corn-marigold, Chrysanthemum segetum.
8. n. The turnsol; heliotrope.
9. n. A sulphid of tin, the aurum musivum of the ancients.
10. Made of, consisting of, or like gold; golden; gilded: as, a gold chain; gold color.
11. Thin plates of gilded metal, especially of yellow metal or brass gilded.

Wiktionary

1. n. uncountable A heavy yellow elemental metal of great value, with atomic number 79 and symbol Au.
2. n. countable A coin made of this material, or supposedly so.
3. n. countable A bright yellow colour, resembling the metal gold.
4. n. countable The bullseye of an archery target.
5. n. countable A gold medal.
6. n. figuratively Anything or anyone considered to be very valuable.
7. adj. Made of gold.
8. adj. Having the colour of gold.
9. adj. of commercial services Premium, superior.
10. v. To pyrolyze or burn food until the color begins to change to a light brown, but not as dark as browning
11. adj. programming, of software In a finished state, ready for manufacturing.
12. adv. of or referring to a gold version of something

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) An old English name of some yellow flower, -- the marigold (Calendula), according to Dr. Prior, but in Chaucer perhaps the turnsole.
2. n. (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.
3. n. Money; riches; wealth.
4. n. A yellow color, like that of the metal.
5. n. Figuratively, something precious or pure.

WordNet 3.0

1. adj. made from or covered with gold
2. n. 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
3. n. a deep yellow color
4. adj. having the deep slightly brownish color of gold
5. n. great wealth
6. n. coins made of gold
7. n. something likened to the metal in brightness or preciousness or superiority etc.