giltless
adj1
Not gilded; lacking gilt.
- Masses of these same anemones, mingled with plumes of their feathery green leaves, and interspersed with blossomed twigs from trees of cherry, peach, and almond, filled a curious old e/pergne in the centre of the table, while on an ancient, almost giltless, gilt console, beneath a mirror that reflected the stainless blue of the sky, was a large, richly-blossomed branch of the white almond.1865, The Cypresses - Volume 1, page 249:
- And looks—well, we conscientiously work at keeping our lilies giltless.1961, The New Yorker - Volume 37, Part 3, page 121:
2 more examples
- He took his eyes on a sight-seeing tour of the room, pausing here and there at points of interest: an oak sideboard tattooed with circular soaks of ink; a buckhorn hatrack; four stuttering chairs left from a silent set of six; an engraving of The Horse Fair, now foxed; a row of giltless books; a waffled couch that for ten years had served as a boy's bed ; and a map of the United States.1982, John B. Sanford, A man without shoes: a novel, page 142:
- Giltless on its front, a sign of more difficult times economically, this is nonetheless a fine book, Sutton Palmer's illustrations admirably complemented by Miss Mitton's text, which was written just before she married Sir George Scott and left the firm.1990, Colin Inman, The A & C Black Colour Books: A Collector's Guide and Bibliography, page 47: