gum
noun
any of various viscid, amorphous exudations from plants, hardening on exposure to air and soluble in or forming a viscid mass with water.
gum
1 American
[guhm]
/ gʌm /
noun
-
any of various viscid, amorphous exudations from plants, hardening on exposure to air and soluble in or forming a viscid mass with water.
-
any of various similar exudations, as resin.
-
a preparation of such a substance, as for use in the arts or bookbinding.
-
mucilage; glue.
-
Philately. the adhesive by which a postage stamp is affixed.
-
Informal. a rubber overshoe or boot.
verb (used with object)
gummed,
gumming
-
to smear, stiffen, or stick together with gum.
-
to clog with or as if with some gummy substance.
verb (used without object)
gummed,
gumming
-
to exude or form gum.
-
to become gummy.
-
to become clogged with a gummy substance.
verb phrase
idioms
gum
2
American
[guhm]
/ gʌm /
noun
verb (used with object)
gummed,
gumming
-
to masticate (food) with the gums instead of teeth.
-
to shape or renew the teeth of (a saw), as by grinding.
idioms
gum
3
American
[guhm]
/ gʌm /
idioms
gum
1
British
/ ɡʌm /
noun
-
any of various sticky substances that exude from certain plants, hardening on exposure to air and dissolving or forming viscous masses in water
-
any of various products, such as adhesives, that are made from such exudates
-
any sticky substance used as an adhesive; mucilage; glue
-
short for kauri gum
-
a gumdrop
verb
-
to cover or become covered, clogged, or stiffened with or as if with gum
-
(tr) to stick together or in place with gum
-
(intr) to emit or form gum
GUM
2
British
abbreviation
gum
3
British
/ ɡʌm /
noun
gum
4
British
/ ɡʌm /
noun
gum
1
Scientific
/ gŭm /
gum
2
Scientific
/ gŭm /
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of gum1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English gom(m)e, gum(m)e, from Old French gomme, from Vulgar Latin gumma, for Latin gummi, cummi, commi, from Greek kómmi, from Coptic kommi, from Egyptian kema, kemai, kmjt
Origin of gum2
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English gom(m)e, Old English gōma “palate, jaws (in plural),” Old Norse gōmr “roof or floor of the mouth,” German Gaumen “palate”
Origin of gum3
First recorded in 1825–35; euphemism for God
Explanation
Gum is a sticky substance that oozes out of a tree or another plant, and chewing gum is the stuff you blow bubbles with or stick under your desk. Yuck. Natural gum has many uses, including as a thickener in food products. Chewing gum, however, has only one real use: it's made to be chewed but not swallowed. This kind of gum often has a fruity or minty flavor, and can sometimes be blown into bubbles. When you gum something up, you clog or block it — or you make it sticky. Completely different gums are the soft flesh inside your mouth where your teeth are rooted.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
More than two billion cups of coffee are drunk each day and that's before we start talking about cola, energy drinks, plus some chocolate, chewing gum and sports supplements, which also contain the chemical.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Curry pressed a bewitching soulfulness through all those layers of spirit gum and latex.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
He also recommends travelers bring motion-sickness patches or chew on gum, which can mitigate some of the issues.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Researchers have developed a bioengineered chewing gum that may offer a new way to target microbes associated with head and neck cancer.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
Then quicker than the eye, Tansy stuck a finger in her mouth and hooked out the chewing gum.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
At the famous GUM department store lined with shops in Red Square, most of the closed storefronts still have the lights on and a clerk or guard inside.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 10, 2022
Detsky Mir has one big advantage for recently-exfiltrated Soviet spies over better known department stores like GUM: It’s a toy store.
From Slate ● May 31, 2018
Mike Aiken, who led GUM through much of its transformation, retired in 2015, and Wilkins, a Baptist preacher with a master’s degree in social work, took over.
From Washington Times ● May 2, 2018
It reminds me of Moscow’s GUM department store in the days of the Soviet Union.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 23, 2017
GUM CISTUS.—The gum labdanum is procured from this shrub, and is its only produce used in medicine.
From The Botanist's Companion, Volume II by William Salisbury
But conditions worsened Friday when they discovered they could not offload a neutralizing agent in the failing tank because the valves had broken and were gummed up.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2026
That gummed up credit markets, tanked the value of money-market funds, and sent global stock markets into a tailspin.
From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026
It also could take a long time for Saudi Arabia to actually take possession of the jets and the process could get gummed up in Congress or derailed by other developments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 19, 2025
In a memo to employees, Fiddelke said he was trying to clear up “complexity” that gummed up decision-making and made it harder to deliver on ideas, according to the Journal.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2025
My hands were still glued, or gummed, to the raft, which had landed.
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
That is gumming up private-equity’s tried-and-true formula of raising money from investors to buy companies, then flipping them for a profit a few years later.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 28, 2025
And despite the claims that she’s gumming up the state’s process with her appeals, Gilbert has never actually reversed a council decision.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2025
Because of its eagerness to enter into chemical reactions, "sulfur compounds tend to be more unstable, posing hazards to lab personnel and equipment, clogging up instrumentation and gumming up experiments."
From Science Daily ● Mar. 13, 2024
He said things were "gumming up" as each individual passport had to be inspected and stamped post-Brexit.
From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2023
Harvey sat at another, gumming away at his food.
From "The Dead and the Gone" by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
