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gaud

American  
[gawd] / gɔd /

noun

  1. a showy ornament or trinket.

gaud British  
/ ɡɔːd /

noun

  1. an article of cheap finery; trinket; bauble

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of gaud

1300–50; Middle English, perhaps < Anglo-French, noun use of gaudir to rejoice < Latin gaudēre to enjoy

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

With sumptuous production values and characters who spent every available petrodollar, Dallas elevated conspicuous consumption to a secular religion: gaud almighty.

From Time Magazine Archive

Alexander loved gaud and baubles; Stalin likes big boots and old brown tunics.

From Time Magazine Archive

He is frequently seen dressed in fantastic gaud, seated in a brilliant howdah atop a huge elephant, with his sceptre in one hand, and a Rolleiflex camera in the other.

From Time Magazine Archive

Satan: I do not ask your soul, only that shining gaud.

From Plays of Near & Far by Dunsany, Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, Baron

“No; too much gaud and glitter for that.”

From No Quarter! by Reid, Mayne

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.