1. The art or practice of overlaying or covering with gold leaf; also, a thin coating or wash of gold, or of that which resembles gold.
2. Gold in leaf, powder, or liquid, for application to any surface.
3. Any superficial coating or appearance, as opposed to what is solid and genuine. Gilding metal, a tough kind of sheet brass from which cartridge shells are made.
GILE
Gile, n. Etym: [See Guile.]
Defn: Guile. [Obs.] Chaucer.
GILL Gill, n. Etym: [Dan. giælle, gelle; akin to Sw. gäl, Icel. gjölnar gills; cf. AS. geagl, geahl, jaw.]
1. (Anat.)
Defn: An organ for aquatic respiration; a branchia.
Fishes perform respiration under water by the gills. Ray.
Note: Gills are usually lamellar or filamentous appendages, through which the blood circulates, and in which it is exposed to the action of the air contained in the water. In vertebrates they are appendages of the visceral arches on either side of the neck. In invertebrates they occupy various situations.
2. pl. (Bot.)