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The original gilded people were
France’s jeunesse d’orée, the “gilded youth”. In France, the Jacobins
chucked out the aristocracy (the French Revolution) and then ruled. They
were replaced by the Directory, which removed from office those who had
carried out revolutionary justice during the Terror. In Paris, this
persecution (the “white terror”) was carried out by the Gilded Youth, a
gang from wealthy backgrounds who considered themselves the antithesis
of the sans–culottes Jacobins. Recently, people have been using
“gilded” (covered with a layer of gold) to mean something like “plush”
(well-upholstered, comfortable). It’s an oblique way of conveying that
someone is posh:
Possessor of a life so gilded
that spending time with him is dangerous for the soul.
The more gilded wing of the
extreme right.
But the key detail that confirms
his gilded existence is this: "I wore boxer shorts of combed Sea Island
cotton at eight bucks a pair." Guardian
Lifted the lid on the gilded
lives of the super-rich. Guardian
A sound system propped in the
corner of the gilded dining room. Guardian
Like F. Scott Fitzgerald's gilded rich. Guardian
Eerily redolent of so many other
ill-judged flirtations with a past gilded in the memory by selective
recall. Guardian (Gilded memory is a cliché, but the original seems to be
“gilded by memory” which makes much more sense, i.e. memory makes ugly
truth superficially beautiful.)
Avoid when you really do
mean golden:
Happily, the incoming month
offers gilded opportunities. Guardian
Or when you don’t really know
what you mean:
Not even a gilded appearance by
Les Dennis or a role for Kate O'Mara could save it. Guardian
Barrymore is child-sized, with what look
like milk teeth, tiny hands and, for much of the interview, a gilded diffidenceat odds with her LA drawl but still somewhere on the adolescent spectrum. Emma Brockes The
Guardian, Saturday 27 March 2010 | 
