- gild the lily
- phrasal to add unnecessary ornamentation to something beautiful in its own right
New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.
gild the lily
Look at other dictionaries:
gild\ the\ lily — • gild the lily • paint the lily v. phr. To add unnecessarily to something already beautiful or good enough. To talk about a beautiful sunset is to gild the lily. For the beautiful girl to use makeup would be to gild the lily. Frank s father is a … Словарь американских идиом
gild the lily — If you gild the lily, you decorate something that is already ornate … The small dictionary of idiomes
gild the lily — ► gild the lily try to improve what is already beautiful or excellent. [ORIGIN: misquotation of a line from Shakespeare s King John VI. ii.] Main Entry: ↑gild … English terms dictionary
gild the lily — meaning ‘to try to improve what is already as beautiful as it can be’, is a not quite accurate quotation from Shakespeare, King John iv.ii.11: To gilde refined Gold, to paint the Lilly; To throw a perfume on the Violet, [etc.] … Modern English usage
gild the lily — verb 1. adorn unnecessarily (something that is already beautiful) • Syn: ↑paint the lily • Hypernyms: ↑decorate, ↑adorn, ↑grace, ↑ornament, ↑embellish, ↑beautify … Useful english dictionary
gild the lily — also[paint the lily] {v. phr.} To add unnecessarily to something already beautiful or good enough. * /To talk about a beautiful sunset is to gild the lily./ * /For the beautiful girl to use makeup would be to gild the lily./ * /Frank s father is… … Dictionary of American idioms
gild the lily — also[paint the lily] {v. phr.} To add unnecessarily to something already beautiful or good enough. * /To talk about a beautiful sunset is to gild the lily./ * /For the beautiful girl to use makeup would be to gild the lily./ * /Frank s father is… … Dictionary of American idioms
gild the lily — A phrase meaning to add unnecessary ornamentation to something already beautiful. Gild the lily is attributed to Shakespeare, but there is a catch the phrase used in Shakespeare s play King John is actually to paint the lily … Glossary of Art Terms
gild the lily — If you gild the lily, you decorate something that is already ornate. (Dorking School Dictionary) … English Idioms & idiomatic expressions
gild the lily — The passage from Shakespeare’s King John is: To gild refined gold, to paint the lily ... Is wasteful and ridiculous excess. Thus it is both wrong and hackneyed to speak of gilding the lily in the sense of overdoing something … Bryson’s dictionary for writers and editors
gild the lily — The passage from Shakespeare s King John is To gild refined gold, to paint the lily. . ./Is wasteful and ridiculous excess. Thus it is both wrong and resorting to a woeful cliche to speak of gilding the lily in the sense of overdoing something … Dictionary of troublesome word
