To gild something means to cover it with a thin layer of gold, or something that looks like gold. When craftspeople gild a picture frame, they apply delicate gold leaf (gold hammered so thin you can see through it) to make the frame gleam. Churches often have gilded domes that shine in the sunlight, and antique mirrors sometimes have gilded edges.

Gilding has been prized for thousands of years because it makes objects look precious and important. Ancient Egyptians gilded objects in their pharaohs' tombs, and medieval artists gilded the pages of illustrated manuscripts.

You might hear the phrase “to gild the lily,” which means to try to improve something that's already beautiful enough. It's like adding sprinkles to a cake that already tastes amazing, or rewording a sentence that was already clear. When you gild the lily, you're overdoing it. The phrase suggests that sometimes gilding something can actually make it worse, not better.

The past tense is gilded (or sometimes gilt), and something covered in gold is called gilt or gilded.