gum definition | Dictionary.com

gum

1 [guhm]

noun, verb, gummed, gum⋅ming.

–noun

1.	any of various viscid, amorphous exudations from plants, hardening on exposure to air and soluble in or forming a viscid mass with water.

2.	any of various similar exudations, as resin.

3.	a preparation of such a substance, as for use in the arts or bookbinding.

4.	chewing gum.

5.	mucilage; glue.

6.	rubber ¹ (def. 1).

gum tree.

8.	Philately. the adhesive by which a postage stamp is affixed. Compare o.g. (def. 1).

9.	Informal. a rubber overshoe or boot.

–verb (used with object)

10.	to smear, stiffen, or stick together with gum.

11.	to clog with or as if with some gummy substance.

–verb (used without object)

12.	to exude or form gum.

13.	to become gummy.

14.	to become clogged with a gummy substance.

—Verb phrase

15.	gum up, Slang. to spoil or ruin.

—Idiom

16.	gum up the works. work (def. 50).

Origin:
1350–1400; ME gomme < OF < VL *gumma, for L gummi, cummi < Gk kómmi

Related forms:

gumless, adjective

gumlike, adjective

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gum

2 [guhm]

noun, verb, gummed, gum⋅ming.

–noun

1.	Often, gums. Also called gingiva. the firm, fleshy tissue covering the alveolar parts of either jaw and enveloping the necks of the teeth.

–verb (used with object)

2.	to masticate (food) with the gums instead of teeth.

3.	to shape or renew the teeth of (a saw), as by grinding.

—Idiom

4.	beat one's gums, Slang. to talk excessively or ineffectively.

Origin:
1275–1325; ME gome, OE gōma palate; akin to ON gōmr, G Gaumen palate

gum

3 [guhm]

—Idiom

by gum, (used as a mild oath).

Origin:
1825–35; euphemism for God

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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gum¹ (gŭm)

1. Any of various viscous substances that are exuded by certain plants and trees and dry into water-soluble, noncrystalline, brittle solids.
2. A similar plant exudate, such as a resin.
3. Any of various adhesives made from such exudates or other sticky substance.
4. Any of various trees of the genera Eucalyptus, Liquidambar, or Nyssa that are sources of gum. Also called gum tree.
5. The wood of such a tree; gumwood.
A substance resembling the viscous substance exuded by certain plants, as in stickiness.
1. Any of various trees of the genera Eucalyptus, Liquidambar, or Nyssa that are sources of gum. Also called gum tree.
2. The wood of such a tree; gumwood.
Chewing gum.

v.   gummed, gum·ming, gums

v.   tr.
To cover, smear, seal, fill, or fix in place with or as if with gum.
v.   intr.

To exude or form gum.
To become sticky or clogged.

Phrasal Verb(s):
gum upTo ruin or bungle: gum up the works.

[Middle English gomme, from Old French, from Late Latin gumma, variant of Latin gummi, cummi, from Greek kommi, perhaps from Egyptian ḳmj-t.]

gum² (gŭm)

n. The firm connective tissue covered by mucous membrane that envelops the alveolar arches of the jaw and surrounds the bases of the teeth. Also called gingiva.
tr.v. gummed, gum·ming, gums
To chew (food) with toothless gums.

[Middle English gome, from Old English gōma, palate, jaw.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Gum

Gum\, n. [OE. gome, AS. gama palate; akin Co G. gaumen, OHG. goumo, guomo, Icel. g?mr, Sw. gom; cf. Gr. ? to gape.] The dense tissues which invest the teeth, and cover the adjacent parts of the jaws.

Gum rash (Med.), strophulus in a teething child; red gum.

Gum stick, a smooth hard substance for children to bite upon while teething.

Gum

Gum\, v. t. To deepen and enlarge the spaces between the teeth of (a worn saw). See Gummer.

Gum

Gum\, n. [OE. gomme, gumme, F. gomme, L. gummi and commis, fr. Gr. ?, prob. from an Egyptian form kam?; cf. It. gomma.]

1. A vegetable secretion of many trees or plants that hardens when it exudes, but is soluble in water; as, gum arabic; gum tragacanth; the gum of the cherry tree. Also, with less propriety, exudations that are not soluble in water; as, gum copal and gum sandarac, which are really resins.

2. (Bot.) See Gum tree, below.

3. A hive made of a section of a hollow gum tree; hence, any roughly made hive; also, a vessel or bin made of a hollow log. [Southern U. S.]

4. A rubber overshoe. [Local, U. S.]

Black gum, Blue gum, British gum, etc. See under Black, Blue, etc.

Gum Acaroidea, the resinous gum of the Australian grass tree (Xanlhorrh[oe]a).

Gum animal (Zo["o]l.), the galago of West Africa; -- so called because it feeds on gums. See Galago.

Gum animi or anim['e]. See Anim['e].

Gum arabic, a gum yielded mostly by several species of Acacia (chiefly A. vera and A. Arabica) growing in Africa and Southern Asia; -- called also gum acacia. East Indian gum arabic comes from a tree of the Orange family which bears the elephant apple.

Gum butea, a gum yielded by the Indian plants Butea frondosa and B. superba, and used locally in tanning and in precipitating indigo.

Gum cistus, a plant of the genus Cistus (Cistus ladaniferus), a species of rock rose.

Gum dragon. See Tragacanth.

Gum elastic, Elastic gum. See Caoutchouc.

Gum elemi. See Elemi.

Gum juniper. See Sandarac.

Gum kino. See under Kino.

Gum lac. See Lac.

Gum Ladanum, a fragrant gum yielded by several Oriental species of Cistus or rock rose.

Gum passages, sap receptacles extending through the parenchyma of certain plants (Amygdalace[ae], Cactace[ae], etc.), and affording passage for gum.

Gum pot, a varnish maker's utensil for melting gum and mixing other ingredients.

Gum resin, the milky juice of a plant solidified by exposure to air; one of certain inspissated saps, mixtures of, or having properties of, gum and resin; a resin containing more or less mucilaginous and gummy matter.

Gum sandarac. See Sandarac.

Gum Senegal, a gum similar to gum arabic, yielded by trees (Acacia Verek and A. Adansoni["a]) growing in the Senegal country, West Africa.

Gum tragacanth. See Tragacanth.

Gum tree, the name given to several trees in America and Australia: (a) The black gum (Nyssa multiflora), one of the largest trees of the Southern States, bearing a small blue fruit, the favorite food of the opossum. Most of the large trees become hollow. (b) A tree of the genus Eucalyptus. See Eucalpytus. (c) The sweet gum tree of the United States (Liquidambar styraciflua), a large and beautiful tree with pointedly lobed leaves and woody burlike fruit. It exudes an aromatic terebinthine juice.

Gum water, a solution of gum, esp. of gum arabic, in water.

Gum wood, the wood of any gum tree, esp. the wood of the Eucalyptus piperita, of New South Wales.

Gum

Gum\, v. t. [imp. &. p. Gummed; p. pr. & vb. n. Gumming.] To smear with gum; to close with gum; to unite or stiffen by gum or a gumlike substance; to make sticky with a gumlike substance.

He frets likke a gummed velvet.Shak.

Gum

Gum\, v. i. To exude or from gum; to become gummy.

Language Translation for : gum

Spanish: encía,

German: das Zahnfleisch,

Japanese: 歯ぐき

More Translations »

gum (1)

"resin," c.1300, from O.Fr. gomme, from L.L. gumma, from L. gummi, from Gk. kommi "gum," from Egyptian kemai. The verb, in the transferred fig. sense of "spoil, ruin" (usually with up) is first recorded 1901, probably from the notion of machinery becoming clogged. As a shortened form of chewing gum, first attested 1842 in Amer.Eng.; gumshoe "plainclothes detective" is from 1906, from the rubber-soled shoes they wore (which were so called from 1863). Gum-tree (1676) was so called for the resin it exudes.

gum (2)

"membranes of the mouth," from O.E. goma "palate," from a Gmc. source represented by O.N. gomi "palate," O.H.G. goumo, related to Lith. gomurys "palate," and perhaps from PIE *gheu- "to yawn" (cf. Gk. khaos, see chaos).

Main Entry: ¹gum
Pronunciation: 'g&m
Function: noun
: the tissue that surrounds the necks of teeth and covers the alveolar parts of the jaws;broadly : the alveolar portion of a jaw with its enveloping soft tissues

Main Entry: ²gum
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: gummed; gum·ming
: to chew with the gums

Main Entry: ³gum
Function: noun
1 : any of numerous colloidal polysaccharide substances of plant origin that are gelatinous when moist but harden ondrying and are salts of complex organic acids —compare MUCILAGE
2 : any of various plant exudates(as a mucilage, oleoresin, or gum resin)

gum ¹ (gŭm)
n.

Any of various viscous substances that are exuded by certain plants and trees and dry into water-soluble, noncrystalline, brittle solids.
A similar plant exudate, such as a resin.
Any of various adhesives made from such exudates or other sticky substance.

gum ²
n.
The firm connective tissue covered by mucous membrane that envelops the alveolar arches of the jaw and surrounds the bases of the teeth. Also called gingiva. v. gummed, gum·ming, gums
To chew food with toothless gums.

gum¹ (gŭm) Pronunciation Key
Any of various sticky substances that are produced by certain plants and trees and dry into brittle solids soluble in water. Gums typically are colloidal mixtures of polysaccharides and mineral salts.

gum² (gŭm) Pronunciation Key
See gingiva.

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