I. gum 1 /ɡʌm/ BrE AmE noun
[ Sense 1: Language: Old English ; Origin: goma ]
[ Sense 2-5: Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: gomme , from Greek kommi , from Egyptian qmy.t ]
[ Sense 6: Date: 1800-1900 ; Origin: God ]
1 . [countable usually plural] your gums are the two areas of firm pink flesh at the top and bottom of your mouth, in which your teeth are fixed
2 . [uncountable] ↑ chewing gum
3 . [uncountable] British English a type of glue used to stick light things such as paper together
4 . [uncountable] a sticky substance found in the stems of some trees
5 . [countable] a ↑ gum tree
6 . by gum! spoken old-fashioned used to express surprise
II. gum 2 BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle gummed , present participle gumming ) [transitive always + adverb/preposition]
British English old-fashioned to stick things together using glue SYN glue
gum something to something
A large label had been gummed to the back of the photograph.
gum something ↔ up phrasal verb informal
to prevent a machine from moving and working properly:
Dirt had got inside the watch and gummed up the works.