glom
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to steal.
-
to catch or grab.
-
to look at.
noun
verb phrase
verb
-
to attach oneself to or associate oneself with
-
to acquire, esp without paying
Etymology
Origin of glom
1895–1900, compare Scots glaum, glam to snatch at, glammis jaws of a vise, apparently < Scots Gaelic glàm to grab, clutch, influenced by clam 2
Explanation
To figuratively grab or seize something is to glom onto it. A local newspaper might simply glom onto whatever stories the larger national papers are covering. While you can also use glom to simply mean "steal," as when a pickpocket gloms your wallet in the subway, today we often use this verb to describe a kind of latching on to an idea, issue, or topic. If polls show most voters care about income inequality, every single candidate is likely to glom onto this theme in some way. The "steal" meaning is oldest, an American word borrowed from the Scottish glaum.
Vocabulary lists containing glom
English Words Derived from Gaelic
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One Crazy Summer
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One of Us Is Lying
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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.
These days, a horror film must also be a blistering allegory for real life, with plenty of subtextual significance for the thinking viewer to glom onto.
From Salon • Mar. 29, 2026
AGEs arise when blood sugar is poorly controlled and elevated levels of sugar molecules known as glucose begin to glom onto nearby proteins including collagen -- a key structural component of the extracellular matrix.
From Science Daily • Feb. 1, 2024
These nasty, bloodsucking parasites glom on to you when you least suspect it.
From Scientific American • Aug. 7, 2023
But it’s one thing to glom onto internet success stories and another to create them in-house.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 15, 2023
She says it’s because I’m “the right person for the job,” but I know she’s just trying to glom off my reputation as the main guy behind the paper chain project.
From "Linked" by Gordon Korman
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.
