Plural of gilding; multiple applications of gold coating, or multiple instances of the gilding process.
From gilding + -s (regular plural).
Medieval manuscripts often had multiple gildings—gold in the initial letters, gold in the borders, gold accents throughout—each layer built up the manuscript's value and visual impact. Viewing the plural reminds us how precious books were when gilding was involved.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.