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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
ormolu
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A red lens in ormolu casing was clamped over his left eye, and perhaps had replaced the original jelly organ.
▪ Around 1834 his father took up business as a gilder and ormolu manufacturer in London.
▪ Each of the legs of the table incorporated a naked ormolu caryatid.
▪ It was mounted in ormolu with an enamelled face.
▪ The ormolu clock ticked on the mantelpiece.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
ormolu

ormolu \or`mo*lu"\ ([^o]r`m[-o]*l[udd]"), n. [F. or moulu; or gold (L. aurum) + moulu, p. p. of moudre to grind, to mill, L. molere. See Aureate, and Mill.] A variety of brass made to resemble gold by the use of less zinc and more copper in its composition than ordinary brass contains. Its golden color is often heightened by means of lacquer of some sort, or by use of acids. Called also mosaic gold.

ormolu varnish, a varnish applied to metals, as brass, to give the appearance of gold.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
ormolu

"alloy of copper, zinc, and tin, resembling gold," 1765, from French or moulu, literally "ground gold," from or "gold" (from Latin aurum, from PIE *aus- (2) "gold;" see aureate) + moulu "ground up," past participle of moudre "to grind," from Latin molere "to grind" (see mallet).

Wiktionary
ormolu
  1. Made from golden or gilded brass or bronze. n. Golden or gilded brass or bronze used for decorative purposes. v

  2. To decorate with gilded ormolu articles.

WordNet
ormolu

n. brass that looks like gold; used to decorate furniture

Wikipedia
Ormolu

Ormolu (from French or moulu, signifying ground or pounded gold) is an English term, used since the 18th century for the gilding technique of applying finely ground, high-carat gold– mercury amalgam to an object of bronze, and for objects finished in this way.

The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold coating. The French refer to this technique as bronze doré; in English, it is known as "gilt bronze".

Usage examples of "ormolu".

The room was full of ormolu clocks and vases, Gobelin tapestries, several gold and silver tea equipages, a brass statue of the Virgin Mary and three immense candle snuffers.

There were ormolu candlesticks, Bessarabian carpets, tale top tables, George III sterling, tea caddies, militia drums, turn-of-the-century jewelry, nineteenth-century mirrors.

Jenny pointed out two moldies whom she said were her close friends: Frangipane, who looked like an orchid blossom, and Ormolu, who looked like a kitschy ornamental cupid.

Across from the brass bed where she lay, sat a beautiful combination writing desk and dressing table, also in tulipwood and also with extensive ormolu.

Everywhere the wainscots were embossed in ormolu or painted with flowers and arabesques.

Shay-Tarrazin knew that time would only exist in its measuring, so he started collecting clocks of every size and description, from a microscopic Russian gold chimer to a twenty-two-foot-high gilded Ormolu state-clock that took fifteen men to carry it.