gum

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: gŭm, IPA^(key): /ɡʌm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌm

Etymology 1

From Middle English gome, from Old English gōma (“palate”), from Proto-Germanic *gōmô, *gaumô (“palate”) (compare German Gaumen, Old Norse gómr (whence Icelandic gómur)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰh₂u-mo- (compare Tocharian A ko, Tocharian B koyṃ (“mouth”), Lithuanian gomurỹs (“palate”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂w- (“to gape, yawn”). More at yawn.

Noun

gum (plural gums)

1. (often in the plural) The flesh around the teeth.

Synonyms

• gingiva (medical)

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

gum (third-person singular simple present gums, present participle gumming, simple past and past participle gummed)

1. To chew, especially of a toothless person or animal.
2. (transitive) To deepen and enlarge the spaces between the teeth of (a worn saw), as with a gummer.

Etymology 2

From Middle English gomme, gumme, borrowed from Anglo-Norman gome, from Late Latin gumma, from Latin cummi, gummi, from Ancient Greek κόμμι (kómmi), from Egyptian qmy (“anointing oil”), qmyt (“acanthus resin, gum”). Cognate with Spanish goma (“rubber”).

Noun

gum (countable and uncountable, plural gums)

1. (chiefly uncountable) Any of various viscous or sticky substances that are exuded by certain plants.
2. (chiefly uncountable) Any viscous or sticky substance resembling those that are exuded by certain plants.
   • 1833, John Kennedy, Geordie Chalmers; or, the Law in Glenbuckie, page 205:

     […] becoomed wi' the gum o' the coal-hill […]

3. (chiefly uncountable) Chewing gum.
4. (countable) A single piece of chewing gum.

   Do you have a gum to spare?

   • 2005, Zadie Smith, On Beauty, Penguin Books (2006), page 388:

     Levi unwrapped a gum and put it in his mouth.

5. (South Africa, often in the plural) A gummi candy.
6. (US, dialect, Southern US) A hive made of a section of a hollow gum tree; hence, any roughly made hive.
7. (US, dialect, Southern US) A vessel or bin made from a hollow log.
8. (US, dialect) A rubber overshoe.
9. A gum tree.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

gum (third-person singular simple present gums, present participle gumming, simple past and past participle gummed)

1. (sometimes with up) To apply an adhesive or gum to; to make sticky by applying a sticky substance to.
   • 2012, Julie Hedgepeth Williams, A Rare Titanic Family: The Caldwells' Story of Survival, →ISBN, page 184:

     However, Albert said in his audiotape and in his speech that a lever designed to release the lifeboat's block and tackle was gummed up with red paint.

2. To stiffen with glue or gum.
   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     He frets like a gummed velvet.

3. (sometimes with together) To inelegantly attach into a sequence.
   • 1946, George Orwell, Politics and the English Language:

     It consists in gumming together long strips of words [that] have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug.

4. (colloquial, with up) To impair the functioning of a thing or process.

   That cheap oil will gum up the engine valves.

   The new editor can gum up your article with too many commas.

Derived terms

• gum up
• by gum

Anagrams

• MGU, mug

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Rhymes: -um

Noun

gum

1. genitive plural of guma

Dutch

Alternative forms

• gom (now restricted to Belgium in the meaning “eraser”).

Etymology

A relatively recent variant of gom.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɣʏm/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: gum

Noun

gum m (plural gummen, diminutive gummetje n)

1. An eraser.

Derived terms

• gummen
• kneedgum

Hausa

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡùm/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key):

Ideophone

gùm

1. smelling bad

Alternative forms

• sùm

Icelandic

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *gaumō (“attention, heed”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʏːm/
• Rhymes: -ʏːm

Noun

gum n (genitive singular gums, no plural)

1. boasting, exaggeration

   Synonyms: gort, raup

Declension

Derived terms

• guma (“to boast, to exaggerate”)

References

Middle English

Noun

gum

1. Alternative form of gumme

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡum/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -um
• Syllabification: gum

Noun

gum f pl

1. genitive plural of guma

Salar

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *kum. Compare to Turkish kum, etc.

Pronunciation

• (Ejia, Daowei, Xunhua, Qinghai, Ili, Yining, Xinjiang) IPA^(key):

Noun

gum (3rd person possessive gumı, plural gumlar)

1. sand

References

• Tenishev, Edhem (1976) “kum”, in Stroj salárskovo jazyká [Grammar of Salar], Moscow, page 395
• Yakup, Abdurishid (2002) “gum”, in An Ili Salar Vocabulary: Introduction and a Provisional Salar-English Lexicon‎, Tokyo: University of Tokyo, →ISBN, page 109

Scots

Etymology 1

From English gum.

Noun

gum (plural gums)

1. gum

Etymology 2

Uncertain; perhaps a specialised use of Etymology 1, above.

Alternative forms

• gumm

Noun

gum (plural gums)

1. mist, vapour, haze

Scottish Gaelic

Alternative forms

• gu
• gun

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəm/

Conjunction

gum

1. that

   Tha mi cinnteach gum biodh e toilichte. - I'm certain that he would be happy.

Usage notes

• Used before b, f, m and p.

Sumerian

Romanization

gum

1. Romanization of 𒄣 (gum)

Turkmen

Noun

gum (definite accusative , plural )

1. sand

Zazaki

Noun

gum

1. (anatomy) cheek