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

Big banks’ profit engines are humming along even as geopolitics keep threatening to gum up the works.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026

The fact that some liquid in the tank is reacting to become a solid is probably what happened to gum up the valve leading into the tank.

From Los Angeles Times • May 23, 2026

“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

Although it doesn’t gum up the works, why keep Harpagon as a male character, for example, and make Cleante a female one?

From New York Times • May 3, 2024

But the United States differs from Europe in ways that can gum up the mobility machine.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

Related Words

• bungle