ˈɡəuldən adj. 1 a
made or consisting of
gold (golden sovereign). b
yielding gold. 2
coloured or shining like gold (golden hair). 3
precious;
valuable;
excellent;
important (a golden
memory; a golden opportunity). øgolden
age 1 a supposed
past age
when people were happy and innocent. 2
the period of a nation's greatest
prosperity,
literary merit, etc. golden-ager US an
old person. golden balls a pawnbroker's
sign. golden
boy (or girl) colloq. a
popular or
successful person. golden calf
wealth as an
object of
worship (Exod. 32). golden
chain the
laburnum. golden
delicious a
variety of
dessert apple. golden
disc an
award given to a performer
after the
sale of 500,000 copies of a
record. golden
eagle a
large eagle, Aquila chrysaetos,
with yellow-tipped head-feathers. golden-eye
any marine duck of the
genus Bucephala. Golden
Fleece (in
Greek mythology) a fleece of gold
sought and
won by Jason. golden
goose a continuing
source of wealth or
profit. golden
hamster a usu.
tawny hamster, Mesocricetus auratus,
kept as a pet or
laboratory animal. golden
handshake colloq. a
payment given on redundancy or
early retirement. golden
hello colloq. a payment made by an employer to a keenly sought
recruit. Golden
Horde the
Tartar horde
that overran E. Europe in the 13th c. (from the richness of the leader's tent). Golden
Horn the
harbour of Istanbul. golden
jubilee 1 the fiftieth
anniversary of a sovereign's
accession. 2 any
other fiftieth anniversary. golden mean 1 the
principle of
moderation, as opposed to
excess. 2 = golden
section. golden
number the number of a
year in the Metonic
lunar cycle, used to
fix the date of
Easter. golden
oldie colloq. an old
hit record or
film etc. that is still well
known and popular. golden opinions
high regard. golden
oriole a
European oriole, Oriolus oriolus, of
which the
male has yellow and
black plumage and the
female has
mainly green plumage. golden perch
Austral. =
CALLOP. golden
retriever a retriever with a
thick golden-coloured
coat. golden
rod any
plant of the genus Solidago with a rodlike stem and a spike of
small bright-yellow flowers. golden
rule a
basic principle of
action,
esp. 'do as
you would be
done by'. golden section the
division of a line so that the
whole is to the greater
part as that part is to the smaller part. Golden
State US California. golden
syrup Brit. a pale
treacle. golden
wedding the fiftieth anniversary of a wedding. øøgoldenly adv. goldenness n.