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

I keep going, one foot in front of the other, tears gumming up the back of my throat, until I feel I’m far enough away that they won’t find me.

From Literature

There are three specific cases, however, where changing course halfway through does gum up the works, and you’re better off leaving things as they are, the experts say.

From MarketWatch

That gummed up credit markets, tanked the value of money-market funds, and sent global stock markets into a tailspin.

From Barron's

That gums up efforts to get planes out on time.

From The Wall Street Journal

That is gumming up private-equity’s tried-and-true formula of raising money from investors to buy companies, then flipping them for a profit a few years later.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• bungle