goldbrick

== English == === Alternative forms === gold-brick, gold brick === Etymology === From gold +‎ brick, originally (1850s) an actual gold ingot or brick, later a swindle that consisted of selling a putative gold brick, which was only coated in gold. The swindle is attested from 1879, the sense “to swindle” is attested 1902, and the sense “to shirk” is attested 1914, popularized as World War I armed forces slang. In early 1900s, used to refer to an unattractive young woman – not pretty, nor able to talk or dance (attested 1903), thence to refer to incompetent enlisted troops at the start of World War I, reinforced by the rank insignia of second lieutenants, which was a gold rectangle. === Noun === goldbrick (plural goldbricks) Something fraudulent or nonexistent offered for sale; a swindle or con. 1920, F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Smart Set, January 1920, collected in Tales of the Jazz Age: Experience is the biggest gold brick in the world. All older people have it for sale. 1945, in the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Immigration Bulletin, Volumes 422–433,[2] page 5: The average farmer may be less of a victim than some other people by reason of his isolation, conservatism, and hard earned money, but he, too, has too often bought a goldbrick that did not materialize. c. 1967, Edmund Wilson, quoted in Lewis M. Dabney, Edmund Wilson: A Life in Literature,[3][4] Macmillan (2005), →ISBN, page 485: […] that if he bought a goldbrick from Podhoretz for $25,000, he ought to pay me more than the $5,000 a volume that had been agreed on for the pure gold […] (US, slang, dated) A shirker or malingerer. Synonym: goldbricker 1945, Dr. Charley Haly, quoted in Doc: heroic stories of medics, corpsmen, and surgeons in combat by Mark R. Littleton, p. 68 Mac, there’s not a confounded thing wrong with you. You are an excellent physical specimen and in good health. You’re nothing but a goldbrick. Now, get your butt out of here and don’t ever come back again unless you’re really sick or need an immunization. 2004 (written c. 1990), Howard Ashman, Aladdin: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, “Proud of your Boy”: Tell me that I’ve been a louse and loafer You won’t get a fight here, no ma’am Say I’m a goldbrick, a goof-off, no good But that couldn’t be all that I am (US, slang, dated) A swindler. Synonym: goldbricker === Verb === goldbrick (third-person singular simple present goldbricks, present participle goldbricking, simple past and past participle goldbricked) (US, slang, dated) To shirk or malinger. (US, slang, dated) To swindle. ==== Derived terms ==== goldbricker ==== Descendants ==== → Okinawan: ゴーブレーキ (goobureeki) === References ===