Gilded means covered with a thin layer of gold. A gilded frame, gilded letters, a gilded dome.
The leaf is beaten so thin that an ounce will cover several square metres, which is why a gilded surface is far cheaper than it looks. A gilded cage means a life of comfort that is still a confinement, and the Gilded Age is Mark Twain's name for a showy era.
1adjectivegildedCovered with a thin layer of gold.
“The old theatre had gilded balconies that shone under the lights.”
gilded is a finish.
From gild + -ed.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire