Beat gold exterior
I believe the answer is:
outdoor
'exterior' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'beat gold' is the wordplay.
'beat' becomes 'outdo' (outdoing is a kind of beating).
'gold' becomes 'or' ('or' is the heraldic name for gold).
'outdo'+'or'='OUTDOOR'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for outdoor that I've seen before include "Located in the open air" , "Open-air" , "Used in the open air" , "not under cover" , "Not done in the house" .)