Midas touch

English

Etymology

From the Greek legend of King Midas, related in chapter XI of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (8 C.E.), whom Dionysus (the god of, among other things, wine and winemaking) gave the power to turn things to gold by touching them.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˌmaɪdəs ˈtʌt͡ʃ/

• Audio (Australia):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Mi‧das touch

Proper noun

Midas touch

1. (Greek mythology, literally) The ability to turn everything one touches into gold.
   • 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 516:

     All phenomena that arouse moral indignation if they occur in bourgeois society are turned to gold, as if by a Midas touch, if they serve the interests of the new power: the armed invasion of a foreign state is liberation, aggression is defence, tortures represent the people's noble rage against the exploiters.

2. (idiomatic) The ability to achieve financial reward (or, more generally, success) from one's actions easily and consistently.

   Synonym: golden touch

   Antonym: reverse Midas touch

Derived terms

• reverse Midas touch

Translations

ability to gain financial reward or success from one’s actions easily and consistently

• Finnish: Midaan kosketus
• Galician: toque de Midas m
• Greek: το άγγιγμα του Μίδα (el) n (to ángigma tou Mída)
• Italian: tocco di Mida m
• Polish: dotyk Midasa m
• Portuguese: toque de Midas m

See also

• chrysopoeia
• everything one touches turns to gold (synonymous force, different part of speech)
• golden age, golden era
• golden boy

Anagrams

• mustachio'd