Word.ws English Dictionary

took the gilt off the gingerbread

took the gilt off the gingerbread is the past participle 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 took the gilt off the gingerbread

What is took the gilt off the gingerbread the past participle of?
Took the gilt off the gingerbread is the past participle of take the gilt off the gingerbread.

Words near took the gilt off the gingerbread in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: took 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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