goldsmith

Everyday

1. A person who makes jewellery, cups, plates or other objects out of gold. tree →
2. In history, goldsmiths also kept people's gold safe and lent money, which helped start the first banks. tree →

In the lessons

In history and art lessons goldsmiths made crowns, coins and church treasures (like the Anglo-Saxon gold of Sutton Hoo). In money lessons goldsmiths' receipts were an early form of paper money in London.

Examples

• The goldsmith made a ring for the king. tree →
• A goldsmith melts gold and hammers it into shape. tree →
• In medieval London goldsmiths had shops on Cheapside. tree →
• The museum showed cups made by a famous goldsmith. tree →
• Goldsmiths in the 1600s kept merchants' gold in strong rooms. tree →
• My cousin is training to be a goldsmith. tree →
• The goldsmith fled for his life. tree →

Note

Countable. «Smith» means a maker who works metal: blacksmith (iron), silversmith (silver), goldsmith (gold).

In Jewish tradition

A worker in gold, who might repair walls under Nehemiah or make covered idols, as Isaiah mocks.

Interpretation. Isaiah's picture of the craftsman making an idol is read as a joke on idol worship: a human-made thing can have no power. In Nehemiah, every trade helping rebuild Jerusalem's wall shows the people working together.

Examples

• Next unto him repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths. (Writings NEH.3.8, JPS 1917) tree →
• And between the upper chamber of the corner and the sheep gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants. (Writings NEH.3.32, JPS 1917) tree →
• The image perchance, which the craftsman hath melted, and the goldsmith spread over with gold, the silversmith casting silver chains? (Prophets ISA.40.19, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Countable. «Smith» means a maker who works metal: blacksmith (iron), silversmith (silver), goldsmith (gold).