| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| gum1 |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  g m |
| NOUN: | 1a. Any of various viscous substances that are exuded by certain plants and trees and dry into water-soluble, noncrystalline, brittle solids. b. A similar plant exudate, such as a resin. c. Any of various adhesives made from such exudates or other sticky substance. 2. A substance resembling the viscous substance exuded by certain plants, as in stickiness. 3a. Any of various trees of the genera Eucalyptus, Liquidambar, or Nyssa that are sources of gum. Also called gum tree. b. The wood of such a tree; gumwood. 4. Chewing gum. | | VERB: | Inflected forms: gummed, gum·ming, gums
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | To cover, smear, seal, fill, or fix in place with or as if with gum. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To exude or form gum. 2. To become sticky or clogged. | | PHRASAL VERB: | gum up To ruin or bungle: gum up the works. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English gomme, from Old French, from Late Latin gumma, variant of Latin gummi, cummi, from Greek kommi, perhaps from Egyptian  mj-t.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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