gum

plural gums · alternative Appalachia gom · alternative dialectal goom · alternative obsolete gumm

1. in pluraloftenThe flesh around the teeth.

   Synonyms: gingiva

present singular third person gums · participle present gumming · participle past gummed · past gummed · alternative Appalachia gom · alternative dialectal goom · alternative obsolete gumm

1. To chew, especially of a toothless person or animal.
2. transitiveTo deepen and enlarge the spaces between the teeth of (a worn saw), as with a gummer.

plural gums

1. uncountablebiochemistryA viscous water-soluble carbohydrate exudate of certain plants that hardens when it becomes dry, or such a substance as a component of a plant exudate.

   gum arabic

   1 more example

   gum-oleo-resin

2. uncountableAny viscous or sticky substance resembling the true gum.

   gum benzoin

   1 more example

   […] becoomed wi' the gum o' the coal-hill […]

   1833, John Kennedy, Geordie Chalmers; or, the Law in Glenbuckie, page 205

3. uncountableChewing gum.
4. countableA single piece of chewing gum.

   Do you have a gum to spare?

   1 more example

   Levi unwrapped a gum and put it in his mouth.

   2005, Zadie Smith, On Beauty, Penguin Books (2006), page 388

5. South Africacountablein pluraloftenuncountableA gummi candy.
6. Southern USUScountabledialectaluncountableA hive made of a section of a hollow gum tree; hence, any roughly made hive.
7. Southern USUScountabledialectaluncountableA vessel or bin made from a hollow log.
8. UScountabledialectaluncountableA rubber overshoe.
9. countableuncountableA gum tree.

present singular third person gums · participle present gumming · participle past gummed · past gummed

1. sometimeswith upTo apply an adhesive or gum to; to make sticky by applying a sticky substance to.

   However, Albert said in his audiotape and in his speech that a lever designed to release the lifeboat's block and tackle was gummed up with red paint.

   2012, Julie Hedgepeth Williams, A Rare Titanic Family: The Caldwells' Story of Survival, →ISBN, page 184

2. To stiffen with glue or gum.

   He frets like a gummed velvet.

   c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]

3. sometimesTo inelegantly attach into a sequence.

   It consists in gumming together long strips of words [that] have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug.

   1946, George Orwell, Politics and the English Language

4. colloquialwith upTo impair the functioning of a thing or process.

   That cheap oil will gum up the engine valves.

   1 more example

   The new editor can gum up your article with too many commas.

1. abbreviationinitialismuncountableInitialism of genitourinary medicine.
2. abbreviationinitialismuncountableInitialism of GUM (department store).

plural Gums

1. A surname.