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ormolu

UK/ˈɔː(ɹ)məˌluː/US/ˈɔɹməˌlu/
nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,794 of 15,258neutral

Ormolu is gilded bronze used to decorate furniture. Ormolu mounts, an ormolu clock, decorated with ormolu.

It was applied by mixing gold with mercury and burning the mercury off, which killed the gilders and is why the true process was banned. The French means ground gold.

John Jason Junior · CC0

Definitions of ormolu

  1. 1nounormoluGilded bronze used to decorate furniture.C2

    “The antique French clock had ormolu mounts that shone like gold.”

ormolu is a decoration.

Where it comes from

French or moulu means ground gold, from or, gold, and moulu, the past participle of moudre, to grind.

  1. French

    or moulu

  2. English, today

    ormolu

From French or moulu literally “ground gold”.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Antiques & Collecting

Practise this word

ormolu in the wild

  • Soho produced high-quality buckles, buttons, boxes, trinkets in steel, gold, sterling silver, goods of ormolu and Sheffield plate.

    Birmingham toy industry

  • A cartel clock is a cartouche shaped clock designed to hang directly on a wall, very commonly executed in fire-gilt bronze (a.k.a. ormolu).

    Cartel clock

  • The term mosaic gold has also been used to refer to ormolu and to cut shapes of gold leaf, some darkened for contrast, arranged as a mosaic.

    Mosaic gold

  • A similar material is gilt-bronze, also known as ormolu.

    Silver-gilt

  • The interior is richly decorated with marble, mosaics and ormolu.

    Grand Ducal Burial Vault

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.