dictionary definitions for "gold"


From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:

  gold
      adj 1: made from or covered with gold; "gold coins"; "the gold dome
             of the Capitol"; "the golden calf"; "gilded icons"
             [syn: golden, gilded]
      2: having the deep slightly brownish color of gold; "long
         aureate (or golden) hair"; "a gold carpet" [syn:
         aureate, gilded, gilt, golden]
      n 1: coins made of gold
      2: a deep yellow color; "an amber light illuminated the room";
         "he admired the gold of her hair" [syn: amber]
      3: 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 [syn: Au, {atomic
         number 79}]
      4: great wealth; "Whilst that for which all virtue now is sold,
         and almost every vice--almighty gold"--Ben Jonson
      5: 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"

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Gold \Gold\ (g[=o]ld), Golde \Golde\, Goolde \Goolde\
     (g[=oo]ld), n. (Bot.)
     An old English name of some yellow flower, -- the marigold
     (Calendula), according to Dr. Prior, but in Chaucer perhaps
     the turnsole.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Gold \Gold\ (g[=o]ld), n. [AS. gold; akin to D. goud, OS. & G.
     gold, Icel. gull, Sw. & Dan. guld, Goth. gul[thorn], Russ. &
     OSlav. zlato; prob. akin to E. yellow. [root]49, 234. See
     Yellow, and cf. Gild, v. t.]
     [1913 Webster]
     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[deg] 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]
  
     Note: 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 {Chrysomelid[ae]}; -- 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
        St[oe]chas} 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.
  
     Mosaic gold. See under Mosaic.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Watch \Watch\ (w[o^]ch), n. [OE. wacche, AS. w[ae]cce, fr.
     wacian to wake; akin to D. wacht, waak, G. wacht, wache.
     [root]134. See Wake, v. i. ]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. The act of watching; forbearance of sleep; vigil; wakeful,
        vigilant, or constantly observant attention; close
        observation; guard; preservative or preventive vigilance;
        formerly, a watching or guarding by night.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Shepherds keeping watch by night.     --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              All the long night their mournful watch they keep.
                                                    --Addison.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Watch was formerly distinguished from ward, the former
           signifying a watching or guarding by night, and the
           latter a watching, guarding, or protecting by day
           Hence, they were not unfrequently used together,
           especially in the phrase to keep watch and ward, to
           denote continuous and uninterrupted vigilance or
           protection, or both watching and guarding. This
           distinction is now rarely recognized, watch being used
           to signify a watching or guarding both by night and by
           day, and ward, which is now rarely used, having simply
           the meaning of guard, or protection, without reference
           to time.
           [1913 Webster]
  
                 Still, when she slept, he kept both watch and
                 ward.                              --Spenser.
           [1913 Webster]
  
                 Ward, guard, or custodia, is chiefly applied to
                 the daytime, in order to apprehend rioters, and
                 robbers on the highway . . . Watch, is properly
                 applicable to the night only, . . . and it begins
                 when ward ends, and ends when that begins.
                                                    --Blackstone.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. One who watches, or those who watch; a watchman, or a body
        of watchmen; a sentry; a guard.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch; go your way,
              make it as sure as ye can.            --Matt. xxvii.
                                                    65.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. The post or office of a watchman; also, the place where a
        watchman is posted, or where a guard is kept.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              He upbraids Iago, that he made him
              Brave me upon the watch.              --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. The period of the night during which a person does duty as
        a sentinel, or guard; the time from the placing of a
        sentinel till his relief; hence, a division of the night.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              I did stand my watch upon the hill.   --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Might we but hear . . .
              Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock
              Count the night watches to his feathery dames.
                                                    --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. A small timepiece, or chronometer, to be carried about the
        person, the machinery of which is moved by a spring.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Watches are often distinguished by the kind of
           escapement used, as an anchor watch, a lever watch,
           a chronometer watch, etc. (see the Note under
           Escapement, n., 3); also, by the kind of case, as a
           gold or silver watch, an open-faced watch, a
           hunting watch, or hunter, etc.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     6. (Naut.)
        (a) An allotted portion of time, usually four hour for
            standing watch, or being on deck ready for duty. Cf.
            Dogwatch.
        (b) That part, usually one half, of the officers and crew,
            who together attend to the working of a vessel for an
            allotted time, usually four hours. The watches are
            designated as the port watch, and the {starboard
            watch}.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     Anchor watch (Naut.), a detail of one or more men who keep
        watch on deck when a vessel is at anchor.
  
     To be on the watch, to be looking steadily for some event.
        
  
     Watch and ward (Law), the charge or care of certain
        officers to keep a watch by night and a guard by day in
        towns, cities, and other districts, for the preservation
        of the public peace. --Wharton. --Burrill.
  
     Watch and watch (Naut.), the regular alternation in being
        on watch and off watch of the two watches into which a
        ship's crew is commonly divided.
  
     Watch barrel, the brass box in a watch, containing the
        mainspring.
  
     Watch bell (Naut.), a bell struck when the half-hour glass
        is run out, or at the end of each half hour. --Craig.
  
     Watch bill (Naut.), a list of the officers and crew of a
        ship as divided into watches, with their stations.
        --Totten.
  
     Watch case, the case, or outside covering, of a watch;
        also, a case for holding a watch, or in which it is kept.
        
  
     Watch chain. Same as watch guard, below.
  
     Watch clock, a watchman's clock; see under Watchman.
  
     Watch fire, a fire lighted at night, as a signal, or for
        the use of a watch or guard.
  
     Watch glass.
        (a) A concavo-convex glass for covering the face, or dial,
            of a watch; -- also called watch crystal.
        (b) (Naut.) A half-hour glass used to measure the time of
            a watch on deck.
  
     Watch guard, a chain or cord by which a watch is attached
        to the person.
  
     Watch gun (Naut.), a gun sometimes fired on shipboard at 8
        p. m., when the night watch begins.
  
     Watch light, a low-burning lamp used by watchers at night;
        formerly, a candle having a rush wick.
  
     Watch night, The last night of the year; -- so called by
        the Methodists, Moravians, and others, who observe it by
        holding religious meetings lasting until after midnight.
        
  
     Watch paper, an old-fashioned ornament for the inside of a
        watch case, made of paper cut in some fanciful design, as
        a vase with flowers, etc.
  
     Watch tackle (Naut.), a small, handy purchase, consisting
        of a tailed double block, and a single block with a hook.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Aluminium \Al`u*min"i*um\ ([a^]l`[-u]*m[i^]n"[i^]*[u^]m), n. [L.
     alumen. See Alum.] (Chem.)
     same as aluminum, chiefly British in usage.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Aluminium bronze or gold, a pale gold-colored alloy of
        aluminium and copper, used for journal bearings, etc.
        [1913 Webster]


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