gold rush

/ˌgoʊl(d) ˈrʌʃ/

/gəʊld rəʃ/

Other forms: gold rushes

A gold rush is when a lot of people rapidly descend upon a specific region to mine for small pieces of a soft, extremely valuable metal. The California gold rush hit its peak in 1849.

If enough fortune seekers hurry to find gold in the same place at more or less the same time, that's a gold rush. During the 19th century, news of gold-seekers discovering small chunks of the precious metal sparked gold rushes in many countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil. The California gold rush began in 1848, and by 1855 it had brought more than 300,000 migrants into the state to search for gold.

Definitions of gold rush

1. noun

   a large migration of people to a newly discovered gold field
   type of:

   migration

   the movement of persons from one country or locality to another
2. noun

   the pursuit of sudden wealth in a new or lucrative field
   synonyms: bonanza, boom, bunce, godsend, gravy, manna from heaven, windfall

   type of:

   happening, natural event, occurrence, occurrent

   an event that happens