gild the lily

gild the lil·y

G g

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [gild stressed th ee lil-ee]
- /gɪld stressed ði ˈlɪl i/
- /ɡɪld ðə ˈlɪl.i/

Definitions of gild the lily words

verb with object gild the lily to coat with gold, gold leaf, or a gold-colored substance. 1
verb with object gild the lily to give a bright, pleasing, or specious aspect to. 1
verb with object gild the lily Archaic. to make red, as with blood. 1
idioms gild the lily gild the lily, to add unnecessary ornamentation, a special feature, etc., in an attempt to improve something that is already complete, satisfactory, or ideal: After that wonderful meal, serving a fancy dessert would be gilding the lily. 1
noun gild the lily to adorn unnecessarily something already beautiful 0
noun gild the lily to praise someone inordinately 0

before 1300

One of the 15% oldest English words

1300-50; Middle English gilden, Old English -gyldan; akin to gold

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 83% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.

Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer