gum

Meanings

Noun

• The flesh around the teeth.
• Any of various viscous or sticky substances that are exuded by certain plants.
• Any viscous or sticky substance resembling those that are exuded by certain plants.
• Chewing gum.
• A single piece of chewing gum.
• A gummi candy.
• A hive made of a section of a hollow gum tree; hence, any roughly made hive.
• A vessel or bin made from a hollow log.
• A rubber overshoe.
• A gum tree.

Verb

• To chew, especially of a toothless person or animal.
• To deepen and enlarge the spaces between the teeth of (a worn saw), as with a gummer.
• To apply an adhesive or gum to; to make sticky by applying a sticky substance to.
• To stiffen with glue or gum.
• To inelegantly attach into a sequence.
• To impair the functioning of a thing or process.

Related

Similar words

• gingiva (medical)

Origin

• From Middle English gome, from Old English gōma ("palate"), from Proto-Germanic *gōmô, *gaumô (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.
• From Middle English gomme, gumme, borrowed from Anglo-Norman gome, from Late Latin gumma, from Latin cummi, gummi, from Ancient Greek κόμμι, from Egyptian qmy ("anointing oil"), qmyt. Cognate with Spanish goma ("rubber").