goldbrick

goldbrick
goldbrick (n.) "shirker," 1914, World War I armed forces slang, from earlier verb meaning "to swindle, cheat" (1902) from the old con game of selling spurious "gold" bricks (attested by 1882).

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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  • goldbrick — gold‧brick [ˈgəʊldbrɪk ǁ ˈgoʊld ] verb [intransitive] informal HUMAN RESOURCES to do no work when you are at your place of work or to stay away from your place of work when you should be there: • Working from home, once considered an opportunity… …   Financial and business terms

  • goldbrick — gold brick n. an idle worthless person. [slang] Syn: goof off, ne er do well, good for nothing, good for naught. [WordNet 1.5] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • goldbrick — ☆ goldbrick [gōld′brik΄ ] n. 1. Informal a worthless metal bar gilded and sold as solid gold in a swindle 2. Informal anything worthless passed off as genuine or valuable 3. Mil. Slang a person who tries to avoid work; shirker; loafer: also… …   English World dictionary

  • goldbrick — 1. noun a) A gold brick, especially one that is fraudulent or nonexistent; These, as a rule, were not adverse to buying a goldbrick as long as they knew that there was a chance for them to dump it on somebody else afterwards with some profit. b)… …   Wiktionary

  • goldbrick — 1. n. a lazy person. □ Pete is just a lazy goldbrick. □ Tell that goldbrick to get back to work. 2. in. to be lazy; to shirk one’s duty. □ Stop goldbricking and get back to work. □ …   Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions

  • goldbrick — gold|brick [ˈgəuldbrık US ˈgould ] n also gold|brick|er [ brıkə US ər] [Date: 1800 1900; Origin: From a trick in which a brick is sold by pretending it is made of gold] AmE informal someone who stays away from their work, especially by pretending …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • goldbrick — also gold.brick.er noun (C) AmE informal someone who stays away from their work, especially with the false excuse that they are ill goldbrick verb (I) …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • Goldbrick Shares — A stock that bears the surface appearance of quality and worth, but is in fact worth very little. The term goldbrick is normally used to describe objects that are fraudulent or a sham. It can also be applied to securities and the corporations… …   Investment dictionary

  • goldbrick — I. noun Date: 1881 1. a. a worthless brick that appears to be of gold b. something that appears to be valuable but is actually worthless 2. a person who shirks assigned work II. verb Date: 1902 transitive verb swindle …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • goldbrick — /gohld brik /, n. 1. Informal. a brick made to look like gold, sold by a swindler. 2. Informal. anything supposed to be valuable but which turns out to be worthless. 3. Also, goldbricker. Slang. a person, esp. a soldier, who shirks responsibility …   Universalium

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