gilder

noun

1. One who gilds; especially one whose occupation is to overlay things with gold.

   “A lady ſhould, indeed, ſtudie her face, when wee thinke ſhee ſleepes: nor, when the dores are ſhut, ſhould men bee inquiring, all is ſacred within, then. [...] you ſee guilders will not worke, but inclos'd. They muſt not diſcouer, how little ſerues, with the helpe of art, to adorne a great deale.”

   “The leather gilders lay a Couch of water and whites of eggs on the leather, before they apply the leaf gold or ſilver.”

   “Gilding in oil, or oily ſize, is uſed for domes, roofs of churches, ſtatues that are to ſtand in the weather, &c. For this purpoſe the Engliſh gilders generally adopt a gold ſize, made of yellow oker ground fine with water, and dried on a chalk ſtone, then ground up with a proper quantity of drying oil, to give it the ſtiffneſs required.”

   “He was a painter and gilder. [...] Now could the poor gilder no longer get paid by his employers.”

   “A carriage, for example, was formerly the product of the labour of a great number of independent artificers, such as wheelwrights, harness-makers, tailors, locksmiths, upholsterers, turners, fringe-makers, glaziers, painters, polishers, gilders, &c. [...] [I]f a number of carriages are being made simultaneously, some may be in the hands of the gilders while others are going through an earlier process.”

2. (alt-of, alternative, archaic, rare)Alternative spelling of guilder.

   “The enmity and diſcord which of late / Sprung from the rancorous outrage of your Duke, / To Merchants our well-dealing Countrimen, / Who wanting gilders to redeeme their liues, / Haue ſeal'd his rigorous ſtatutes with their blouds, / Excludes all pitty from our threatning lookes: [...]”

   “[N]one ſhall be choſen to be a Commiſſioner in the Court at Amſterdam, vnleſſe he put ſix thouſand gilders ſtocke of his owne in the ſaid Companie; [...]”

   “On the Spuy is a good Dutch Inn, called the Hoff van Utrecht. The Price is a Gilder a Day, or a Shilling for the Dinner only.”

   “In order to restrain excessive and inconsiderate liberality, it was introduced by the written laws, that no present exceeding the amount of five hundred gold gilders of Rome may exist, unless it be made and confirmed publicly and lawfully in writing before the court of justice of the place; [...]”

   “On both sides they will confuse you by explaining that the Dutch gilder is the currency they prefer—a type of coin you are certain to be without.”

name

1. A surname.

   “Albert Bigelow Paine, his biographer to be and literary executor, who has been constantly with him, said that for the last year at least Mr. Clemens had been weary of life. When Richard Watson Gilder died, he said: "How fortunate he is. No good fortune of that kind ever comes to me."”