Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An alloy of copper, zinc, and tin, used in imitation gold jewelry.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An alloy of copper, tin, and other metals resembling gold in appearance, and used in the manufacture of cheap watchcases, jewelry, etc. The term is also used adjectively: as, oroide jewelry. Also called oreide.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An alloy, chiefly of copper and zinc or tin, resembling gold in color and brilliancy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An alloy of copper and zinc or tin that has a gold color. It is used in making inexpensive jewelry.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun alloy of copper and tin and zinc; used in imitation gold jewelry

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration of French oréide : or, gold; see or + -éide, resembling (from Greek -oeidēs, -oid).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French, from or ("gold") + Ancient Greek εἶδος (eidos, "appearance”, “shape”, “form").

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Examples

  • Knovelties and the little Phine Phun oroide gold finger ring that sticks a needle in your friend's hand.

    The Gentle Grafter O. Henry 1886

  • Why we got off at the first station we could, belongs to a little oroide gold watch and Alaska diamond deal we failed to pull off the day before, over the Kentucky line.

    The Gentle Grafter O. Henry 1886

  • Albert and the oroide gold pants and the amalgamated copper hat, that carried the combination meat-axe, ice-pick, and liberty-pole, and used to stand on the first landing as you go up to the Little

    Roads of Destiny O. Henry 1886

  • One word brought on another, they drifted, by easy stages, into draw poker, and before Snowdon left he had won two hundred and eighty dollars and, an oroide watch chain of Storey.

    Peck's Sunshine Being a Collection of Articles Written for Peck's Sun, Milwaukee, Wis. - 1882 1878

  • _Some folks_ should see that my bashfulness was wearing off faster than the gold from an oroide watch.

    The Blunders of a Bashful Man Metta Victoria Fuller Victor 1858

  • "Curly," answered Tom, with scorn, "what you call your brains is only a oroide imitation of a dollar watch.

    Heart's Desire Emerson Hough 1890

  • The tyranny of custom, it is true, compels your friend and myself to dress peculiarly, but I assure you nothing could be finer than the way that the olive green of your coat melts in the delicate yellow of your cravat, or the pearl gray of your trousers blends with the bright blue of your waistcoat, and lends additional brilliancy to that massive oroide watch-chain which you wear. "

    Drift from Two Shores Bret Harte 1869

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