gild the lily

English

WOTD – 16 October 2006

Etymology

A common misquotation of a line from William Shakespeare's play King John.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɪld ðə ˈlɪli/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

gild the lily (third-person singular simple present gilds the lily, present participle gilding the lily, simple past and past participle gilded the lily)

1. (idiomatic) To embellish or improve something unnecessarily.

   Synonyms: go overboard, over-egg the pudding

2. To add superfluous attributes to something.

Translations

to improve unnecessarily

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 畫蛇添足／画蛇添足 (zh) (huàshétiānzú)

• Danish: overbrodere
• Finnish: kruusata
• German: unnötig ausschmücken, des Guten zu viel tun
• Italian: infronzolare, agghindare (it), azzimare (it)
• Japanese: 画蛇添足 (ja) (がだてんそく, gada tensoku)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 화사첨족 (ko) (hwasacheomjok) ^{(please verify)} 畵蛇添足
• Polish: przedobrzać impf, przedobrzyć (pl) pf
• Ukrainian: переборщи́ти (pereborščýty), переприкра́сити (pereprykrásyty)

to add superfluous attributes

• Danish: overbrodere
• Finnish: maalailla (fi)
• German: übertreiben (de)
• Italian: infronzolare
• Spanish: rizar el rizo

See also

• gold-plated