gold rush

noun

1. a large-scale and hasty movement of people to a region where gold has been discovered, as to California in 1849.

gold rush

noun

1. a large-scale migration of people to a territory where gold has been found

Word History and Origins

Origin of gold rush¹

An Americanism dating back to 1875–80

Example Sentences

Kalundborg, a town of just 16,000 people on the Danish coast about an hour’s drive from Copenhagen, is as close as you might get to a modern-day gold rush town.

From BBC

"Africa is like the Americas at the time of… the gold rush. I think it's the continent of the future. It's where there's everything left to build, everything left to develop."

From BBC

Some local businessmen and politicians are widely suspected to have joined them in what has been dubbed "the mad gold rush", buying out cocoa farms and turning them into illegal mining sites.

From BBC

It’s understandable why the prospect of a new clean industry, a “white gold rush,” would be appealing to residents.

From Los Angeles Times

Then there came the other gold rush — slower, more modest, but with a steady yield that literally could be plucked from trees: the California orange.

From Los Angeles Times