gum up

SEE SYNONYMS FOR gum up ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (tr, adverb)

to cover, dab, or stiffen with gum
informal to make a mess of; bungle (often in the phrase gum up the works)

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Words nearby gum up

gumshoe, gumsucker, gum thus, gum tragacanth, gum tree, gum up, gumweed, gumwood, gun, guna, gunboat
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

Words related to gum up

bungle, ball up, blow, blunder, boggle, boot, bumble, butcher, distort, err, flounder, flub, foul up, fumble, louse up, mar, mend, mess, mess up, misapply

Idioms and Phrases with gum up

gum up

Ruin or bungle something, as in The front office has gummed up the sales campaign thoroughly. This idiom is also put as gum up the works, as in John's changes in procedures have gummed up the works in the shipping department. [Slang; c. 1900]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.