overgilding

/ˌoʊvərˈɡɪldɪŋ/
noun
  1. The act or process of covering something with a thin layer of gold or a gold-like substance.
    • Artists in the Renaissance often used overgilding to add a sacred glow to religious paintings.
    • The museum's restoration team specializes in the overgilding of antique furniture.
    • The overgilding of the picture frame made it look much more expensive.
  2. Excessive or unnecessary decoration or embellishment, especially that which hides the true nature of something.
    • Some critics say the movie's special effects are just overgilding a weak story.
    • Her writing style avoids overgilding and gets straight to the point.
    • The politician's speech was full of overgilding, but offered no real solutions.
verb
  1. Present participle of overgild; covering with a layer of gold or gold-like material.
    • They spent weeks overgilding the ceiling of the cathedral.
    • The jeweler is overgilding the silver bracelet to give it a richer look.
    • The craftsman is overgilding the edges of the mirror with gold leaf.
What does "overgilding" mean? | whatsthatwordmean | whatsthatwordmean