1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Gigglers, wanton women.
Adj. (old).—Loose in word and deed. Also giglet-like, and giglet-wise = like a wanton.
1598. Shakspeare, 1 Henry IV., Act v., Sc. 1. Young Talbot was not born To be the pillage of a giglot wench.
1600. Fairfax, Jerusalem Delivered, vi., 72. That thou wilt gad by night in giglet-wise, Amid thine armed foes to seek thy shame.
Gild, verb. (old).—To make drunk; to flush with drink.
1609. Shakspeare, Tempest, Act v., Sc. 1. This grand liquor that hath gilded them.
1620. Fletcher, Chances, iv., 3. Is she not drunk, too? A little gilded o’er, sir.
To gild the pill, phr. (colloquial).—To say, or do, unpleasant things as gently as may be; to impose upon; to bamboozle (q.v.).
Gilded Rooster, subs. phr. (American).—A man of importance; a howling swell (q.v.); sometimes the gilded rooster on the top of the steeple. Cf., big-bug; big dog of the tanyard, etc.
1888. New York Herald. We admit that as a metropolis Chicago is the gilded rooster on top of the steeple, but even gilded roosters have no right to the whole corn bin.