Gilt-Edged Bond

You can imagine the characters in a Henry James novel (probably someone’s snooty European aunt) with a gilt-edged mirror. Or the eccentric knight in a King Arthur story with a gilt-edged sword...perhaps the only weapon with magic enough to pierce dragon scales.

Well, along those lines, you've also got gilt-edged bonds. The term refers specifically to debt issued by the Bank of England. The bonds have fixed rates, a set maturity, and (this is key) are considered very low-risk.

Because of the high regard given to these investments as nearly no-risk places to park money, the term has also come to refer to any low-risk debt securities.