gold

gold a yellow precious metal, the chemical element of atomic number 79, valued especially for use in jewellery and decoration, and to guarantee the value of currencies; taken as a type of something that is precious, beautiful, or brilliant.

The bullseye of an archery target is known as the gold.

The word is recorded from Old English, and is of Germanic origin, from an Indo-European root shared by yellow.
crock of gold a large but distant or imaginary reward, with allusion to the story of a crock of gold supposedly to be found by anyone reaching the end of a rainbow.
gold brick chiefly in the US, a thing that looks valuable, but is in fact worthless; from the confidence trickster's practice of preparing a block of base metal with a corner of gold to look like a brick-shaped piece of gold.
Gold Coast a former name (until 1957) for Ghana, so called because it was an important source of gold.
Gold Collar a classic greyhound race, inaugurated in 1933, run annually in September at the Catford track in south London, originally in May, now in September.
gold disc a framed golden disc awarded to a recording artist or group for sales of a recording exceeding a specified high figure. The figure varies from year to year and between countries; typical recent figures are, for a single, 500,000 in the UK or one million in the US, and for an album, 250,000 in the UK or 500,000 in the US.
gold may be bought too dear wealth may be acquired at too great a price; saying recorded from the mid 16th century.
gold rush a rapid movement of people to a newly discovered goldfield. The first major gold rush, to California in 1848, was followed by others in the US, Australia (1851–3), South Africa (1884), and Canada (Klondike, 1897–8).
gold standard the system by which the value of a currency was defined in terms of gold, for which the currency could be exchanged. The gold standard was generally abandoned in the Depression of the 1930s.
Gold Stick in the UK, a ceremonial officer in the Sovereign's household, entitled to carry a gilt rod on state occasions. The office is now held by the colonels of the senior household regiments in England and Scotland.

See also it is good to make a bridge of gold to a flying enemy, streets paved with gold at street.