Meaning of take the gilt off the gingerbread | Babel Free

Definitions

To take away the most attractive or appealing qualities of something; to destroy an illusion.

idiomatic

Examples

“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.’”

“The former gentleman too rarely appears amongst us as a solo pianist, did we hear him oftener, we are inclined to think he would, to use a homely figure of speech, "Take the gilt off the gingerbread" of many persons of much higher pretensions.”

“A seedy kind of men come to me that can't get credit with regular first houses, and though I get very good prices out of 'em all, I've made some losses in particular directions, that quite took the gilt off the gingerbread.”

“[D]o we ever dream that in a certain gross number—say a billion—of young lady lovers, there is always a given number ready to cut off their sweethearts' heads and stick them in a flower-pot? Alas! how such a fact takes the gilt off the gingerbread!”

“Notwithstanding the unfinished state of the building [the Royal Albert Hall] and its approaches a concert is to be given in the hall to-morrow (February 25) by the aristocratic musicians, who have earned such a deservedly high reputation under their adopted designation of the "Wandering Minstrels." This first formal concert, which, by the way, seems like "taking the gilt off the gingerbread," is for the entertainment of the workmen of Messrs. Lucas Brothers, the contractors.”

“He was one whose main business was, in his own view, the pricking of illusions, the stripping away of disguises, and even the destruction of ideals. He was a sort of anti-confectioner whose whole business it was to take the gilt off the gingerbread.”

“It is always pleasant to come into your kingdom—though it takes the gilt off the gingerbread if there's no one with whom to share it.”

“According to the writer, Monks Farm bore a sinister local reputation, and was about as thoroughly haunted as any place could be, and in order to justify his thesis, he gave an account of its history. [...] The discussion that followed the reading of the paper, and which was recorded in all its wordy fullness, somewhat took the gilt off the gingerbread, however, for it was pointed out by persons familiar with local customs as well as local superstitions, that the empty buildings of Monks Farm had long been a favourite haunt of lovers without benefit of clergy.”

“[T]he competition between the Standard and the Shell had taken the gilt off the gingerbread; after the first imports by the Shell, the price of lamp oil had fallen from 11d. to 6¼d. per gallon, [...]”

“'My boss works for your crowd. If anything takes the gilt off the gingerbread … I mean he's a creep. Can it be true?' / 'Explains how they picked you.'”

CEFR level