Home British & World English gold brick

Definition of gold brick in English:

gold brick

(also goldbrick)

noun

informal

  • 1A thing that looks valuable, but is in fact worthless.

    1. 1.1A confidence trickster.
      ‘In such small communities, thieves, liars, and goldbrickers could easily be identified.’
      ‘He'd catch up to the goldbrickers in a moment, he just needed to rest.’

  • 2A lazy person.

    ‘We finished the pen around the time those two goldbrickers returned from their joyride.’

verb

informal

  • 1no object Invent excuses to avoid a task; shirk.

    ‘he wasn't goldbricking; he was really sick’
    evade one's duty, be remiss, be negligent, skulk, play truant, malinger

  • 2with object Swindle (someone)

    ‘look out they don't goldbrick you’
    swindle, defraud, deceive, trick, dupe, hoodwink, double-cross, gull

Pronunciation

gold brick