glue
Americannoun
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a hard, impure, protein gelatin, obtained by boiling skins, hoofs, and other animal substances in water, that when melted or diluted is a strong adhesive.
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any of various solutions or preparations of this substance, used as an adhesive.
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any of various other solutions or preparations that can be used as adhesives.
verb (used with object)
noun
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any natural or synthetic adhesive, esp a sticky gelatinous substance prepared by boiling animal products such as bones, skin, and horns
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any other sticky or adhesive substance
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gluesimple
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gluessimple
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have gluedperfect
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has gluedperfect
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am gluingprogressive
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are gluingprogressive
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is gluingprogressive
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have been gluingperfect progressive
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has been gluingperfect progressive
Past
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gluedsimple
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had gluedperfect
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was gluingprogressive
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were gluingprogressive
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had been gluingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of glue
1300–50; (noun) Middle English glu, gleu < Old French glu < Latin glūt- (stem of glūs ); cognate with Greek gloiós gum, anything sticky; (v.) Middle English glywen, glewen, derivative of the noun
Explanation
Glue is a liquid adhesive, used to stick two items together. A little kid may use Elmer's glue to decorate an art project, and you may use Krazy Glue to repair a mug's broken handle. Whatever the case, you hope the glue sticks. Most glue comes in a squeeze bottle and is used in small drips and lines to paste one material to another, but some glue comes in solid sticks that aren't as messy. When you stick one thing to another with glue, you glue it. The Old French source of glue is glu, from the Latin gluten, which means both "glue" and "beeswax."
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:
"The packaging industry has existing machines which are all designed for glue materials. Some kind of redesign is probably necessary, and this is our biggest challenge," says Hermann Ultraschall's Baumann.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Contracts worth billions of dollars have become the commercial glue holding the AI boom together.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
"They glue together and block transportation within the neuron," Tyagi explains.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 30, 2026
According to the affidavit, Dale asked to be wrapped “like a mummy” with plastic wrap, and to glue a pair of women’s boots to his feet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
“And it’s the Roman Colosseum, in Rome, not Greece. Stop touching it, Emma. The glue isn’t dry yet.”
From "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson
Nvidia glues everything together with software called CUDA, short for “compute unified device architecture.”
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
When counterfeiters make fake versions—phony name-brand sneakers, for instance—they don’t use the same materials, glues, dyes and paints that the legitimate manufacturer does.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026
But despite its water-sensitive glues and exposed hydraulics, the seahorse completed its route intact.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 3, 2026
Restoring a Rothko painting is a difficult task because "Rothko's mixture of pigments and resins and glues were quite complex", Mr Helm said.
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2025
If you sit on them too long in the summer while wearing shorts, the plastic nearly glues to your legs.
From "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas
"It's this common misconception that young people always want to be inside, glued to their phones," Henry smiles.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
For the first time the whole game, all the players glued their eyes to the plate, conversations and catch-ups stopped mid-sentence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
At a time when housing market stats reflect the same old slump, investors will keep their eyes glued to the 10-year yield.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
For months, many people have had their eyes glued to the Twin Cities through the lens of international headlines.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026
My clothes are glued to my skin with sweat.
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
He likens what the group is doing to “building a puzzle out of thousands of other puzzles, gluing it together to make a new thing.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026
"The spermine is like cheese that connects the long, thin noodles without gluing them together, making them easier to digest."
From Science Daily ● Nov. 27, 2025
This could lead to an overwhelming amount of data for those using the app, gluing users to their smartphones.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2025
Other recent protests have involved activists blocking highway traffic in various parts of Italy, and gluing hands of activists to the protective glass of a Botticelli painting in the Uffizi Gallery.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 7, 2023
“They’re trying to accuse me of gluing the telephone lock. They don’t trust me around here.”
From "The Pigman" by Paul Zindel
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.
