Dalmeny lent me red tabs, Evans his brass hat; so that I had the gauds of my appointment in the ceremony of the Jaffa gate, which for me was the supreme moment of the war.
(obsolete) trick; jest; sport
(obsolete) deceit; fraud; artifice
verb
(obsolete) To bedeck gaudily; to decorate with gauds or showy trinkets or colours; to paint.