take the gilt off the gingerbread

present singular third person takes the gilt off the gingerbread · participle present taking the gilt off the gingerbread · past took the gilt off the gingerbread · participle past taken the gilt off the gingerbread

1. idiomaticTo take away the most attractive or appealing qualities of something; to destroy an illusion.

   If you only say the word, we shall take the gilt off the gingerbread,—you guess what I mean,—but remember that Sir Robert Walpole said, ‘every man has his price.’

   1837, Catherine Sinclair, chapter X, in Modern Society; or, The March of Intellect. The Conclusion of Modern Accomplishments, London: James Nisbet and Co., […]; Edinburgh: William Whyte and Co., […], →OCLC, page 176

   5 more examples

   The former gentleman too rarely appears amongst us as a solo pianist, did we hear him oftener, we are inclined to think he would, to use a homely figure of speech, "Take the gilt off the gingerbread" of many persons of much higher pretensions.

   1850 May 11, “Provincial Correspondence. Music at Manchester.”, in The Musical World. A Record of Music, the Drama, Literature, Fine Arts, Foreign Intelligence, &c. and Complete Record of the Theatres and the Concert Room, volume XXV, number 19, London: Printed and published by W. S. Johnson, […], published 1851, →OCLC, page 296, column 2

   A seedy kind of men come to me that can't get credit with regular first houses, and though I get very good prices out of 'em all, I've made some losses in particular directions, that quite took the gilt off the gingerbread.

   1856, “John Slagge” [pseudonym], “Selections from the Blunderbore Correspondence. No. XIII.”, in Frederick Sinnett, editor, Melbourne Punch, volume I, Melbourne, Vic.: Published at the office, 66, Collins Street, East, →OCLC, page 99, column 1

   [D]o we ever dream that in a certain gross number—say a billion—of young lady lovers, there is always a given number ready to cut off their sweethearts' heads and stick them in a flower-pot? Alas! how such a fact takes the gilt off the gingerbread!

   1866, Noel Jones, “Valentine’s Day”, in Pictures of Society. Grave and Gay. […], London: Sampson Low, Son, and Marston, […], →OCLC, page 153

   Notwithstanding the unfinished state of the building [the Royal Albert Hall] and its approaches a concert is to be given in the hall to-morrow (February 25) by the aristocratic musicians, who have earned such a deservedly high reputation under their adopted designation of the "Wandering Minstrels." This first formal concert, which, by the way, seems like "taking the gilt off the gingerbread," is for the entertainment of the workmen of Messrs. Lucas Brothers, the contractors.

   1871 February 24, “Quidnunc” [pseudonym], “Notes by Quidnunc”, in The Mechanics’ Magazine, Museum, Register, Journal, and Gazette, volume XXV (New Series; volume XXXIV overall), London: R. Smiles, Mechanics’ Magazine Office, […], published 1830, →OCLC, page 131, column 1

   He was one whose main business was, in his own view, the pricking of illusions, the stripping away of disguises, and even the destruction of ideals. He was a sort of anti-confectioner whose whole business it was to take the gilt off the gingerbread.

   1909, Gilbert K[eith] Chesterton, “The Progressive”, in George Bernard Shaw, New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, →OCLC, page 70