gold

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

• noun A soft, yellow, corrosion-resistant element, the most malleable and ductile metal, occurring in veins and alluvial deposits and recovered by mining, panning, or sluicing. A good thermal and electrical conductor, gold is generally alloyed to increase its strength, and it is used as a common 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 1,064.2°C; boiling point 2,856.0°C; specific gravity 19.3; valence 1, 3. cross-reference: Periodic Table.
• noun Coinage made of this element.
• noun A gold standard.
• noun Money; riches.
• noun A light olive-brown to dark yellow, or a moderate, strong to vivid yellow.
• noun Something regarded as having great value or goodness.
• noun A medal made of gold awarded to one placing first in a competition, as in the Olympics.
• adjective Having the color of gold.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun 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.
• noun Hence, figuratively Money; riches; wealth.
• noun Anything very valuable or highly prized; anything regarded as very precious, or as of pure or sterling quality.
• noun A bright-yellow color, like that of the metal gold; also, gilding: as, a flower edged with gold.
• noun 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.
• noun [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.
• noun Tho corn-marigold, Chrysanthemum segetum.
• noun The turnsol; heliotrope.
• noun A sulphid of tin, the aurum musivum of the ancients.
• Made of, consisting of, or like gold; golden; gilded: as, a gold chain; gold color.
• Thin plates of gilded metal, especially of yellow metal or brass gilded.

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

• noun (Bot.) An old English name of some yellow flower, -- the marigold (Calendula), according to Dr. Prior, but in Chaucer perhaps the turnsole.
• noun (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.
• noun Money; riches; wealth.
• noun A yellow color, like that of the metal.
• noun Figuratively, something precious or pure.
• noun See Golden age, under Golden.
• noun etc. See under Dutch, Dust, etc.
• noun a mineral, found in Columbia and California, composed of gold and mercury.
• noun one whose occupation is to beat gold into gold leaf.
• noun the prepared outside membrane of the large intestine of the ox, used for separating the leaves of metal during the process of gold-beating.
• noun (Zoöl.) any small gold-colored beetle of the family Chrysomelidæ; -- called also golden beetle.
• noun printing with gold leaf, as upon a book cover, by means of an engraved block.
• noun See Cloth of gold, under Cloth.
• noun a part of the coast of Guinea, in West Africa.
• noun (Mining) See Cradle, n., 7.
• noun the places, or region, where gold is found by digging in sand and gravel from which it is separated by washing.
• noun a fragment of broken gold or jewelry.
• noun An itinerant jeweler.
• noun a popular mania for gold hunting.
• noun a region in which are deposits of gold.
• noun [Obs. & Low] One who empties privies.
• noun a composite plant with dry and persistent yellow radiating involucral scales, the Helichrysum Stœchas of Southern Europe. There are many South African species of the same genus.
• noun thin sheets of gold, as used by dentists and others. See Gold leaf.
• noun (Bot.) buttercups.
• noun a kind of lace, made of gold thread.
• noun a thin plate of gold or gilded metal.
• noun gold beaten into a film of extreme thinness, and used for gilding, etc. It is much thinner than gold foil.