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):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Verb

to 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), 画蛇添足 (zh) (huàshétiānzú)

• Finnish: kruusata
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: infronzolare, agghindare (it), azzimare (it)
• Japanese: 画蛇添足 (ja) (がだてんそく, gada tensoku)
• Korean: 화사첨족 (ko) (畫蛇添足, hwasacheomjok)

to add superfluous attributes

• Finnish: maalailla (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: infronzolare