gum up

British  

verb

1. to cover, dab, or stiffen with gum

2. informal to make a mess of; bungle (often in the phrase gum up the works )

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gum up Idioms  

1. 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]

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Example Sentences

In part, that’s because of how easy it’s become to gum up the Senate.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 11, 2025

“Making it easier and less costly for insurers to deny claims, or for patients to file potentially dubious claims, could further gum up an already overloaded system rather than smoothing out the process.”

From MarketWatch • Oct. 21, 2025

Slow-curing polymers such as thiolenes and epoxies would gum up the scraper.

From Science Daily • Nov. 15, 2023

But Mr Day said these were "ingeniously countered" with either pumped-in sugar based viscous fluid to gum up the clockwork mechanism, or a magnet known as "the clock stopper" which would disrupt its iron parts.

From BBC • Dec. 26, 2022

Their noses drip, their throats gum up, their eyes are rimmed with red.

From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson

Related Words

• bungle