gilt

plural gilts

1. uncountableusuallyGold or other metal in a thin layer; gilding.
   1. broadlyuncountableusuallyGold-colored paint or other coating.
2. slanguncountableusuallyMoney.

   three corrupted men […] Have, for the gilt of France,—O guilt indeed!— Confirm'd conspiracy with fearful France

   1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, prologue]

3. UKcountableusuallybusinessA security (usually a bond) issued by the Bank of England (see gilt-edged).

   higher gilt yields

   1 more example

   However, as asset prices slumped over the week – including UK government bonds, or gilts – those banks required more collateral to offset the pension funds’ liabilities, forcing the funds to dump assets and raise cash at short notice.

   2022 September 29, Kalyeena Makortoff, Sarah Butler, “‘I’d never seen anything like it’: how market turmoil sparked a pension fund selloff”, in The Guardian

4. obsoleteuncountableusuallyA gilded object, an object covered with gold.

   The parysh of Seint Powle in Norwiche. Thomas Blocke, George Wylson, Churchwardens. Have sold in plate, gylte and parcell gylte, to the summe of iiij ownce, every ownce at the price of iiijs. viijd.

   1864, “Returns of Church Goods in The Churches of the City of Norwich”, in Commission of 6 Edward VI, 1552, quoted in Norfolk Archaeology, Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society, page 371

comparative more gilt · superlative most gilt

1. Golden coloured; gilded.

   The Jones man was looking at her hard. Now he reached into the hatch of his vest and fetched out a couple of cigars, everlasting big ones, with gilt bands on them.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter X, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

1. participlepastsimple past and past participle of gild

   The sun was rising; it gilt the hill tops and gradually threw its lustre over the dark pine forests on the mountain slopes.

   1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 89

plural gilts · alternative yilt

1. UKregionalA young female pig, at or nearing the age of first breeding.

1. abbreviationacronymuncountablecomputingAcronym of globalization, internationalization, localization, and translation

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   2023, “Unicode Technology Workshop 2024”, in Unicode Technology Workshop 2024, Mountain View, California: Unicode Consortium, retrieved 19 Nov 2025