gold beetle

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.]
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   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.
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   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.
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   2. Money; riches; wealth.
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            For me, the gold of France did not seduce. --Shak.
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   3. A yellow color, like that of the metal; as, a flower
      tipped with gold.
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   4. Figuratively, something precious or pure; as, hearts of
      gold. --Shak.
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   {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}.
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