the.com/gilding
Wrapping something cheap in a whisper of gold so thin it borders on rumor.
means The act of coating an object in a thin layer of gold or gold-colored material to make it look richer than it is.
from From Old English gyldan, 'to cover with gold,' built straight from gold itself — the same Germanic root that gives us the metal's name. The word carried a faintly suspicious shimmer early on: Shakespeare leaned on it for 'to gild refined gold,' meaning to wastefully decorate something already fine, and the phrase 'gilding the lily' grew (slightly garbled) from that line — proof that even centuries ago, people knew a layer of gold could be more flattery than substance.
- thinness
- Gold leaf can be 1/8000th of a millimeter
- see-through
- So thin light passes through it greenish
- applied with
- Static-charged squirrel-hair brush, never fingers
- ancient art
- Egyptians gilded coffins over 4,000 years ago
- edible cousin
- Same leaf legally garnishes desserts and cocktails
versailles palace mirrors — hall of mirrors in france features gilded bronze frames and ornaments across 73m gallery
the golden gate bridge — san francisco bridge painted international orange but originally proposed with gold leaf plating