goldbrick

Meanings

Noun

• Something fraudulent or nonexistent offered for sale; a swindle or con.
• A shirker or malingerer.
• A swindler.

Verb

• To shirk or malinger.
• To swindle.

Origin

• From gold + brick, originally (1850s) an actual gold ingot or brick, later a swindle that consisted of selling a putative gold brick, which was only coated in gold. The swindle is attested from 1879, In early 1900s, used to refer to an unattractive young woman – not pretty, nor able to talk or dance (attested 1903), thence to refer to incompetent enlisted troops at the start of World War I, reinforced by the rank insignia of second lieutenants, which was a gold rectangle.