Word.ws English Dictionary

taken the gilt off the gingerbread

taken the gilt off the gingerbread is the simple past of take the gilt off the gingerbread.

Meaning of take the gilt off the gingerbread

Verb

take the gilt off the gingerbread (third-person singular simple present takes the gilt off the gingerbread, present participle taking the gilt off the gingerbread, simple past took the gilt off the gingerbread, past participle taken the gilt off the gingerbread)

  1. (idiomatic) To take away the most attractive or appealing qualities of something; to destroy an illusion.
    • If you only say the word, we shall take the gilt off the gingerbread,—you guess what I mean,—but remember that Sir Robert Walpole said, ‘every man has his price.’1837, Catherine Sinclair, chapter X, in Modern Society; or, The March of Intellect. The Conclusion of Modern Accomplishments, London: James Nisbet and Co., […]; Edinburgh: William Whyte and Co., […]...

Questions about taken the gilt off the gingerbread

What is taken the gilt off the gingerbread the simple past of?
Taken the gilt off the gingerbread is the simple past of take the gilt off the gingerbread.

Words near taken the gilt off the gingerbread in the dictionary

  1. taken the fall
  2. taken the fifth
  3. taken the front seat
  4. taken the game to
  5. taken the gap
  6. taken the gilt off the gingerbread
  7. taken the heat
  8. taken the helm
  9. taken the initiative
  10. taken the knee
  11. taken the l

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taken the gilt off the gingerbread (page history and authors); take the gilt off the gingerbread (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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