c. 1889. Chicago Tribune (quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant). He’s a gilt-edged idiot to play the game.
1891. Standard, 18 June, p. 2, c. 1. ‘Gilt-edged mutton’ is the latest of glorified and ‘boomed’ American products.
1891. Tit Bits, 8 Aug., p. 286, c. 2. Another accomplishment, peculiar to the gilt-edged academy, is learning to eat asparagus, oranges, grapes, etc.
Gilter, see gilt, sense 2.
Gilt-tick, subs. (costermongers’). Gold.
Gimbal- (or gimber-) Jawed, adj. (common).—Loquacious; talking nineteen to the dozen (q.v.). [Gimbals are a combination of rings for free suspension; hence applied to persons the joints of whose jaws are loose in speech.]
Gimcrack (Gincrack, or Jimcrack), subs. (old).—1. A showy simpleton, male or female; a dandy (q.v.).
1618. Beaumont and Fletcher, Loyal Subject, iv., 3. These are fine gimcracks; hey, here comes another, a flagon full of wine in his hand.
1637. Fletcher, Elder Brother, iii., 3. You are a handsome and a sweet young lady, And ought to have a handsome man yoked to ye. An understanding too; this is a gimcrack That can get nothing but new fashions on you.
1690. B. E., Dict. of the Canting Crew. Gimcrack, a spruce wench.