gold rush

• goldrush, gold-rush

gold +‎ rush. First use appears c. 1848 in the Oregon Spectator.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡəʊldˌɹʌʃ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡoʊldˌɹʌʃ/

gold rush (plural gold rushes)

1. (chiefly historical) Any period of feverish migration into an area in which gold has been discovered.

   Synonym: gold fever

   • 1906 May–October, Jack London, chapter I, in White Fang, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 4 (The Superior Gods):

     Here Grey Beaver stopped. A whisper of the gold-rush had reached his ears, and he had come with several bales of furs, and another of gut-sewn mittens and moccasins. He would not have ventured so long a trip had he not expected generous profits.

2. (figurative) A feverish obsession with seeking profits, especially in new markets.
   • 2021 March 24, Kevin Roose, “Buy This Column on the Blockchain!”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     That’s because I’ve decided to enter the freewheeling world of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, the newest frontier in the cryptocurrency gold rush.

3. A cocktail made from bourbon, honey, and lemon juice.
   • 2021, Elva Ramirez, Zero Proof: 90 Non-Alcoholic Recipes for Mindful Drinking, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 94:

     The Gold Rush is one of my favorite cocktails, invented at Sasha Petraske's famed Milk & Honey bar and now served all over the world. Basically a cold toddy, it's a shaken drink with bourbon, fresh lemon, and honey.

4. (informal, sports) The urge to win gold medals, as in the Olympic Games.

• gold rush on Wikipedia.Wikipedia