1. Obedient and well-behaved. Sure, I'll baby-sit Cindy's kids tonight—they're as good as gold every time I watch them.My students are always as good as gold, until they get some sugar in them at lunch.A lot of teenagers rebel, but not me—I was always good as gold.
2. Authentic and legitimate. According to the curator, this painting is as good as gold.Dude, we'll be rich if these diamonds prove to be as good as gold!Everyone thinks they've uncovered untold riches in their attic or basement. It's up to our appraisers to determine what's really good as gold.
Cliché very good. (Usually used to describe children. *Also: as ∼.) Mother: Thank you for taking care of Gretchen; I hope she hasn't been too much trouble. Grandmother: Not at all; she's been as good as gold.We knew that Daddy would not read us a bedtime story unless we behaved, so we tried to be good as gold.
Completely genuine; also, well behaved. For example, Her credit is as good as gold, or The children were good as gold. With this alliterative idiom the initial as is sometimes dropped, and nearly always so when behavior is referred to. [Late 1600s]
If a child is as good as gold, they behave very well. Both children have been as good as gold all afternooon.They were both in the playroom as good as gold.
Singularly well-behaved or authentic. This proverbial comparison has an ancient ring to it, but it dates only from the nineteenth century. Dickens used it several times (in The Old Curiosity Shop and A Christmas Carol) as did W. S. Gilbert in Patience (1881): “Gentle Jane was good as gold, She always did as she was told.”
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