red-goldadj.n.
/ˌrɛdˈɡəʊld/, U.S. /ˌrɛdˈɡoʊld/ A. adj.
1. poetic. Made of pure or reddish gold. Cf. red adj. 3a. Now archaic and rare.
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OE Aldhelm Glosses (Digby 146) in A. S. Napier Old Eng. Glosses (1900) 30/1 Auri obriza lammina : readgoldlæfer [OE Brussels 1650 reade godlæfer].
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) 1817 Ho raȝt hym a riche rynk of red golde werkez.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 425 He..asselis it him selfe..With a rede golde rynge.
1594 (a1555) D. Lindsay Hist. Squyer Meldrum l. 948 in Wks. (1931) I. 171 Hir hair was like the reid gold wyre.
1837 E. S. Wortley Hours at Naples 94 With the diamond coil, and the red gold chain, Wreathe they Stomachere and hair!
1876 W. Morris Story of Sigurd iv. 385 With the golden gear was he swaddled, and he held the red-gold rod.
1984 R. Kenney Evol. Flightless Bird 9 Stones from Delphi, cuff links, cloves of foreign coins... What else—no red-gold Celtic hero's torc.
2. Designating the colour of pure or reddish gold; (now usually) of this colour.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > yellow or yellowness > [adjective] > reddish yellow
red-yellowa1578
red-gold1838
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 661 This beast is of red-gold-colour.]
1838 Ld. Houghton Memorials 3 'Tis pleasant to behold The lamp of darkness burn Light-amber or red-gold.
1871 A. C. Swinburne Songs before Sunrise 237 Till the red-gold harvest-rows, Full-grown, are full of the light.
1925 W. Cather Professor's House i. vi. 75 The red-gold sunlight lay in bright puddles on the thick blue carpet.
1973 J. Cleary Ransom i. 21 She was..beautiful, with that red-gold hair that was a sensation on colour television.
2000 J. Creighton Coins & Power in Late Iron Age Brit. iii. 68 Then a new standard rapidly emerged in a new red-gold colour.
2002 A. N. Wilson Victorians xiii. 161 Her red-gold hair fell over her shoulders in flaming ropes.
3. Of the nature of or made of an alloy of gold with a proportion of copper, having a reddish-yellow colour.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > alloy > [adjective] > made of or coated with other specific alloys
occamy1639
electrine1677
pinchbeck1743
bell-metal1782
amalgamed1789
red-gold1872
1872 J. E. Collins Private Bk. Useful Alloys & Memoranda for Goldsmiths, Jewellers p. vi. Red Gold Alloy.
1952 U.S. Patent 2,596,454 1 For example alloy A is an 8 karat red gold alloy, and A-l is substantially the same 8 karat red gold alloy with 1% indium added.
2007 VNU Entertainment News Wire (Nexis) 29 May The 18 carat red gold watch (45 mm) has a flattened bezel and a protected crown flanked by the two chronograph pushbuttons.
B. n. Frequently as two words.
1. An alloy of gold with a proportion of copper, having a reddish-yellow colour. In early use not always easy to distinguish from the simple use of the adjective to describe gold (cf. red adj. 3a).
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > alloy > [noun] > alloy of precious metals > gold alloy > types of
white gold1548
red-gold1707
shakudo1860
1707 T. Heton Some Acct. Mines 52 Red Gold is less valuable, as containing most Copper; the Yellow is better.
1800 tr. E. J. B. Bouillon-Lagrange Man. Course Chem. II. 141 Jewellers gold, and that used for plate and coins, is allayed with this metal [sc. copper]. When this mixture is made in the arts, the workmen call it Red Gold.
1948 A. Selwyn Retail Jeweller's Handbk. (ed. 3) x. 137 Red gold had a revival when Paris jewellers re-introduced it in jewellery in 1937–38.
1992 C. Fowler Red Bride (1993) (BNC) 253 It's a lady's eternity ring, red gold, Victorian.
2007 Jewelers' Circular-keystone (Nexis) 1 July 114 While stainless steel dominates watchmaking, there's much more red gold (also called pink or rose, depending on the copper alloy) on fine watches.
2. A red-gold colour.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > yellow or yellowness > [noun] > golden yellow
goldOE
gold colour1547
goldness1657
goldishness1671
aventurine1791
goldenness1829
gilding1851
orange-gold1859
buttercup yellow1863
old gold1871
red-gold1884
Tuscan1887
honey1981
1884 St. James's Gaz. 10 May 6/2 A warm green, which, with the red gold of her hair, makes up a colour-chord as simple as it is effective.
1906 E. Phillpotts Portreeve ii. i The breath of ocean made visible..glowed into red gold as the sun descended.
1949 F. Towers Tea with Mr. Rochester (1952) 187 It shone in the red-gold of her hair and turned her neck to alabaster.
1997 P. Melville Ventriloquist's Tale (1998) ii. 93 Shadows slashed at their faces and turned them to red-gold.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.OE