{"id":322,"date":"2021-12-20T23:14:19","date_gmt":"2021-12-20T23:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=322"},"modified":"2021-12-20T23:14:19","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T23:14:19","slug":"all-that-glitters-is-not-gold-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/all-that-glitters-is-not-gold-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"All that Glitters is Not Gold - Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you looking at that new UHD TV from an unknown manufacturing brand? Sure, it looks great, with all the smart features of the top brands.<\/p>\n

Remember, \"all that glitters is not gold,\"<\/em> and you could end up regretting your purchase when the TV starts to turn faulty in a few months.<\/p>\n

This post looks at the meaning and origin of this idiom.<\/p>\n

All that Glitters is not Gold Idiom Meaning<\/h2>\n

\"All that glitters is not gold<\/em>\" is an idiom describing a reaction to a person or object. If you're telling someone that \"all that glitters is not gold<\/em>,\" you could be talking about a new candidate for a job or a potential hotel and vacation spot.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Essentially the idiom is a warning that you might experience an adverse outcome instead of what you expect. For instance, someone could be on a stage making a speech, promising the world to the audience. A person could use the phrase to tell someone to lower their expectations on the speaker delivering their promises.<\/p>\n

All that Glitters is not Gold Example Usage<\/h2>\n

\"I know you think that Gillian is the best candidate for the job. She has the right qualifications and experience, but all that glitters is not gold<\/em>.\"<\/p>\n

\"The government's proposal for the infrastructure project looks good, but all that glitters is not gold.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The car looks mint on the exterior, but all that glitters is not gold<\/em>, and the engine blew on the first time he took it to the track.\"<\/p>\n

\"Damian took the job because it was a considerable jump in salary. Alas, all that glitters is not gold<\/em>, and he can't stand the people he works with now.\"<\/p>\n

All that Glitters is not Gold Idiom Origin<\/h2>\n

The original use of the phrase appears as \"all that glisters is not gold.\"<\/em> However, someone replaced the \"glister<\/em>\" with \"glitter<\/em>,\" and that change stuck with the phrase throughout history. William Shakespeare provides us with the first use of the words in his work \"The Merchant of Venice<\/em>\" from 1596. The text reads as follows.<\/p>\n

\"O hell! What have we here?<\/p>\n

A carrion Death, within whose empty eye<\/p>\n

There is a written scroll! I'll read the writing.<\/p>\n

All that glitters is not gold;\"\u2026<\/p>\n

The expression was well in use before Shakespeare brought it to the stage. In fact, it was in such frequent use by the 1600s that it was a somewhat proverbial phrase. Alain de Lille, the 12th-century French theologian, penned the following text.<\/p>\n

\"Do not hold everything gold that shines like gold.\"<\/p>\n

Geoffrey Chaucer's poem \"The House of Fame,\" penned in 1380, shows the following.<\/p>\n

\"For, by Crist, lo! thus hit fareth;<\/p>\n

'Hit is not al gold, that glareth.' \"<\/p>\n