"gild the pill" meaning in English

See gild the pill in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-gild the pill.ogg Forms: gilds the pill [present, singular, third-person], gilding the pill [participle, present], gilded the pill [participle, past], gilded the pill [past]
Etymology: Supposedly from an old pharmaceutical practice of coating bitter tasting pills with a thin layer of metal (see bitter pill). Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} gild the pill (third-person singular simple present gilds the pill, present participle gilding the pill, simple past and past participle gilded the pill)
  1. Synonym of sugarcoat the pill Synonyms: sugarcoat the pill [synonym, synonym-of] Related terms: put lipstick on a pig Translations (to make something unappealing look more attractive — see also sugarcoat): kaunistella (Finnish), dorer la pilule (French), megédesíti a pirulát (Hungarian), indorare la pillola (Italian), dourar a pílula (Portuguese), подсласти́ть пилю́лю (podslastítʹ piljúlju) [perfective] (Russian), dorar la píldora (Spanish)
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  "etymology_text": "Supposedly from an old pharmaceutical practice of coating bitter tasting pills with a thin layer of metal (see bitter pill).",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "gilded the pill",
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  "lang_code": "en",
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          "ref": "1888, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, The Yeomen of the Guard […] , London: Chappel & Co., […], published c. 1911, page 17:",
          "text": "For he who'd make his fellow-creatures wise / Should always gild the philosophic pill!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1891 May 8, Mr. Goschen, “Purchase of Land, &c.”, in parliamentary debates (House of Commons):",
          "text": "The chemists who first gilded the pill now sit on the Front Opposition Bench.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of sugarcoat the pill"
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      "id": "en-gild_the_pill-en-verb-lL-nvg66",
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          "word": "put lipstick on a pig"
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          "word": "sugarcoat the pill"
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      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to make something unappealing look more attractive — see also sugarcoat",
          "word": "kaunistella"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to make something unappealing look more attractive — see also sugarcoat",
          "word": "dorer la pilule"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "to make something unappealing look more attractive — see also sugarcoat",
          "word": "megédesíti a pirulát"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "to make something unappealing look more attractive — see also sugarcoat",
          "word": "indorare la pillola"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "to make something unappealing look more attractive — see also sugarcoat",
          "word": "dourar a pílula"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "podslastítʹ piljúlju",
          "sense": "to make something unappealing look more attractive — see also sugarcoat",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "подсласти́ть пилю́лю"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to make something unappealing look more attractive — see also sugarcoat",
          "word": "dorar la píldora"
        }
      ]
    }
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      "form": "gilds the pill",
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      "form": "gilding the pill",
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    {
      "form": "gilded the pill",
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      "form": "gilded the pill",
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      "word": "put lipstick on a pig"
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          "ref": "1888, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, The Yeomen of the Guard […] , London: Chappel & Co., […], published c. 1911, page 17:",
          "text": "For he who'd make his fellow-creatures wise / Should always gild the philosophic pill!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1891 May 8, Mr. Goschen, “Purchase of Land, &c.”, in parliamentary debates (House of Commons):",
          "text": "The chemists who first gilded the pill now sit on the Front Opposition Bench.",
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        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of sugarcoat the pill"
      ],
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          "word": "sugarcoat the pill"
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to make something unappealing look more attractive — see also sugarcoat",
      "word": "kaunistella"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to make something unappealing look more attractive — see also sugarcoat",
      "word": "dorer la pilule"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "to make something unappealing look more attractive — see also sugarcoat",
      "word": "megédesíti a pirulát"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "to make something unappealing look more attractive — see also sugarcoat",
      "word": "indorare la pillola"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "to make something unappealing look more attractive — see also sugarcoat",
      "word": "dourar a pílula"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "podslastítʹ piljúlju",
      "sense": "to make something unappealing look more attractive — see also sugarcoat",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "подсласти́ть пилю́лю"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to make something unappealing look more attractive — see also sugarcoat",
      "word": "dorar la píldora"
    }
  ],
  "word": "gild the pill"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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