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glom

[glom]Slang.
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR glom ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), glommed, glom·ming.

to steal.
to catch or grab.
to look at.

noun

a look or glimpse.

Verb Phrases

glom onto, to take hold or possession of: He wanted to glom onto some of that money.

RELATED WORDS

incarcerate, capture, seize, apprehend, detain, jail, imprison, catch, snag, arrest, take, pick, grab, snare, trap, grip, snatch, clench, grasp, fasten

Nearby words

  1. glochid,
  2. glochidium,
  3. glock,
  4. glockenspiel,
  5. glogg,
  6. glomal,
  7. glomangioma,
  8. glomangiosis,
  9. glomectomy,
  10. glomera

Origin of glom

1895–1900, Americanism; compare Scots glaum, glam to snatch at, glammis jaws of a vise, apparently < Scots Gaelic glàm to grab, clutch, influenced by clam2
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
British Dictionary definitions for glomming

glom

verb slang

(tr foll by on to) to attach oneself to or associate oneself with
US to acquire, esp without paying

Word Origin for glom

C20: from Scots glaum
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for glomming

glom

v.

1907, glahm "grab, snatch, steal," American English underworld slang, from Scottish glaum (1715), apparently from Gaelic glam "to handle awkwardly, grab voraciously, devour." Sense of "look at, watch" (1945) apparently is derived from the same source. Related: Glommed; glomming.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper