| 释义 |
▪ I. gum, n.1|gʌm|
Forms: 1 góma, 3–5 gome, 5–6 gomme, gume, 5–7 goom(e, 6 gowme, gummb, 6–7 gumme, 7 gombe, gumb, gumm, 7– gum.
[OE. góma wk. masc., corresponds to OHG. guomo (MHG. guome), and (apart from difference of declension) to ON. góm-r palate. The vowel in these forms seems to represent a pre-Teut. long diphthong ōu; cf. the synonyms (app. related by ablaut) OHG. giumo, goumo (MHG. goume, mod.G. gaumen). Outside Teut. the Lith. gomurýs ‘palate’ has been compared; the word may belong to the OAryan root *ghē̆u-, ghō̆u- to yawn, whence Gr. χάος, χαῦνος.
The normal pronunciation |guːm| (cf. loom) still survives in dialects.]
†1. Used in OE. and early ME. sing. or pl. indifferently for the inside of the mouth or throat.
c825Vesp. Psalter lxviii[i]. 4 Ic won cleopiende hase ᵹewordne werun goman mine. a1000Riddles xli. 58 (Gr.) Ic eom on goman ᵹena swetra, þonne [etc.]. c1000Sax. Leechd. I. 264 Wið þæs muþes & þæra gomena fulnysse..ᵹenim [etc.]. c1200Vices & Virtues (1888) 119 We notieð on gomes [printed ȝomes] alles kennes attre of dieule. [1535Coverdale Ps. xxi. 15 My tunge cleueth to my goomes.]
2. a. pl. collect. The firm fleshy integument of the jaws and bases of the teeth; also said of the toothless jaw and its integument. Also sing., the portion of the integument attached to a single tooth.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xvi. (1495) 122 Yf the gomes ben corrupt thenne [etc.]. c1440Promp. Parv. 202/1 Gome yn mannys mowthe (S. goomys), gingiva. c1470Henryson Mor. Fab. v. (Parl. Beasts) xxxiii, With that the meir gird him vpoun the gumis [rimes with presumis]. 1527Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters B iij b, The same water..is good for..payne in the gommes. 1555Eden Decades 161 From the vppermoste parte of the lyppe euen vnto the nethermoste parte of the gumme. 1578Banister Hist. Man i. 5 The callositie of the Gowmes serueth some men instead of teeth. 1610Beaum. & Fl. Scornf. Lady iii. i, Marry come vp my gentleman, are your gummes growne so tender they cannot bite? a1656Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 189 The canker from a scarce sensible begining consumes the gummes. 1711Shaftesbury Charac. (1733) I. iii. 288 Operations of the active Tongue on the passive Gum or Palat. 1747Wesley Prim. Physic (1762) 52 Keep a little Stick Liquorice between the Cheek and the Gums. 1814Lady Colquhoun in Mem. ii. (1849) 44 The gum was still painful when exposed to the air. 1850Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. II. 118 Alligators' teeth..set in silver for infants..to rub against their gums when cutting their teeth. 1876Tomes Dental Anat. 98 The gum is continuous with the mucous membrane of the inside of the lips. 188319th Cent. May 759 A rough outline of the Man of the Future with his bald scalp and empty gums.
†b. = gum-tooth (see 5). Obs.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. iv. 883 Er yeeris sixe out goth the gomes stronge [L. molares superiores cadunt].
3. slang. Impertinent talk, chatter, ‘jaw’.
1751Smollett Per. Pic. xvi. I. 115 Pshaw! brother, there's no occasion to bowss out so much unnecessary gum. 1785Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue s.v., Come let us have no more of your gum. 1824R. B. Peake Americans Abroad i. 1 Come, none of your gum—now you are but an underlin'.
4. = gummer1 b. (Cent. Dict.)
5. attrib. and Comb., as gum-bleeding, gum-lancet; gum-chewed adj.; gum-didder nonce-wd., the quivering or shivering of the gums (cf. didder v.); gum-digger Austral. and N.Z. slang, a dentist; so gum-digging vbl. n.; gum-ridge, the ridge of gum behind the upper teeth; gum-ring, a child's teething-ring; gum-rubber, something for a child to rub its gums on; gum-shield Boxing (see quot. 1954); † gum-stake nonce-wd., a tooth; gum-stick = gum-rubber; gum-tickler U.S. (see quots.); gum-tooth, a molar tooth; gumwork Dentistry (see quot. 1969). Also gumboil.
1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 461 Hæmorrhages, such as nose-bleeding, *gum-bleeding, and bloodshot eye.
1922Joyce Ulysses 364 Chap in the Burton today spitting back *gumchewed gristle.
1653Urquhart Rabelais ii. vii. 40 The teeth-chatter or *gum-didder of lubberly lusks.
1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 33 *Gumdigger, a dentist.
1932A. S. Bruce Early Days of Canterbury xii. 135 Purdie the Dentist..was..among the leading practitioners in the somewhat primitive days of the art of ‘*gum digging’.
1784M. Underwood Dis. Children (1799) I. 188 When it is found necessary to lance the gums..it should always be done effectually with a proper *gum-lancet.
1938I. Goldberg Wonder of Words ix. 179 A consonant is called palato-alveolar because it is made by the palate and the gums... This term is applied, among other things, to the teeth sockets, or the *gum-ridge. 1965W. S. Allen Vox Latina i. 13 An alveolar articulation (in which the tongue makes contact with the gum-ridge behind the upper teeth rather than with the teeth themselves).
1856F. S. Cozzens Sparrowgr. Papers x. 138 It..sat up rigidly in its mother's lap, twirling its thumbs and cutting its teeth without a *gum-ring.
1708Prior Mice 103 Stockings, shoes, to grace the bantling;..add to these the fine *gum-rubber.
1954F. C. Avis Boxing Ref. Dict. 50 *Gum shield, a soft pad worn in the mouth by boxers to protect their teeth and gums during a contest. 1959Times 27 Aug. 3/7 In the eighth [round] Erskine's gumshield went skidding across the canvas. 1963Times 7 Feb. 3/6 He took a hammering and had his gum-shield knocked loose.
1671Crowne Juliana iii. Dram. Wks. 1873 I. 71 Shaver o' shin-bones, drawer of *gum-stakes.
1789W. Buchan Dom. Med. (1790) 17 A crust of bread is the best *gum-stick.
1810J. Lambert Trav. N. Amer. (1813) II. 299 A *gum-tickler is a gill of spirits, generally rum, taken fasting. 1814Q. Rev. X. 521 Of dram-drinking [in the States] there are different stages... The first drop..is called a gum-tickler. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. iv. iii, Will you mix it [rum], Mr. Wegg?.. I think not, sir..I prefer to take it in the form of a Gum-Tickler.
1535Coverdale Judg. xv. 19 Then God opened a *gome-tothe [Vulg. dentem molarem] in ye chekebone [of the ass]. c1550Lloyd Treas. Health (1585) A v, Children are payned with..ytchinge of the gummes, & espicially in the growyng of the gumme teethe. a1872B. Harte Notes by Flood & Field i. Wks. 127 It was like pulling gum-teeth to get the money from you even then. 1878L. P. Meredith Teeth 225 To wait until the gums have shrunk..sufficiently to allow gum-teeth to be inserted without being too prominent.
1881P. H. Austen Harris's Princ. & Pract. Dentistry (ed. 10) iv. xiii. 633 It [sc. platinum] is also the only metal used in a remarkably beautiful style of work known as the Continuous Gum Work. 1940J. Osborne Dental Mechanics viii. 88 The absence of the anterior gumwork has a serious effect upon the retention of the denture in the mouth. 1969Gloss. Terms Dentistry (B.S.I.) 84 Gumwork, that part of the denture which replaces lost natural gum and alveolar process.
▪ II. gum, n.2|gʌm|
Forms: 4–5 gomme, (5 gom), 4–7 gumme, (5 gume, 6 gumb(e, 7 gumm), 6–7 goom(e, (6 goume), 4– gum.
[a. OF. gomme = Pr., Sp. goma, Pg., It. gomma:—popular L. gumma = class. L. gummi, cummi, a. Gr. κόµµι.]
1. a. A viscid secretion issuing from certain trees and shrubs, which hardens in drying but is usually soluble in cold or hot water, in this respect differing from resin. Occas. in wider use, including resins (cf. 2).
c1385Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 109 As for to speke of gomme or erbe or tre. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 101 Herbes groweþ þeron, þat droppeþ gom. c1400Mandeville (1839) iv. 22 Out of hem [Trees] comethe Gomme, as it were of Plombtrees or of Cherietrees. c1400Three Kings Cologne 44 Hit droppeþ downe oute of certeyn trees in maner of gumme. 1513Douglas æneis vi. iii. 98 The gvm or glew..Is wont to seme ȝallow on the grane new. 1573Tusser Husb. xxxiii. (1878) 75 All trees that beare goom set now as they coom. 1591Spenser Virg. Gnat 669 The Spartan Mirtle, whence sweet gumb does flowe. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 507 Lac is a strange drug, made by certaine winged Pismires of the gumme of trees. 1631E. Jorden Nat. Bathes vi. (1669) 40 We use the word Gum in a more general sense, comprehending under it all Rosins, Turpentines, Pitches, &c. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 236 With Dew, Narcissus Leaves, and clammy Gum. 1805Med. Jrnl. XIV. 266 There is a great resemblance between the physical properties of animal mucus and vegetable gum. 1867C. A. Moloney Forestry W. Afr. 122 From the Gold Coast the export of gum (fossilized resin)..is trifling. 1878Browning La Saisiaz 7 To heal and coat with amber gum the sloe⁓tree's gash. 1894Outing (U.S.) XXIII. 391/2 The seams are usually payed with melted spruce gum, which effectually prevents leakage.
b. with a and pl. as denoting a kind of gum.
a1300Cursor M. 11501 (Gött.) It [rekels] es a gum þat cummes of firr. 1513Act 5 Hen. VIII, c. 4 Preamble, Divers Strangers..dry calander Worsteds with Gums, Oils, and Presses. 1538Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 90 Yt was noe bloude, but hony clarified and coloured with saffron, and lyinge lyke a goume. 1631Gouge God's Arrows i. xxv. 36 Stacte, a gumme that distils out of Myrrhe, or Cinamon. 1802Med. Jrnl. 391 Opium is composed of a gum, a resin [etc.]. 1870Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 225 Gums are soluble in water, but not in alcohol.
c. This substance dried and used in the arts, e.g. to stiffen linen, as a mucilage, etc. Hence fig., stiffness.
1456Tintinhull Churchw. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.) 187 It. in gume pro eisdem libris..jd. 1505Carpenters' Acc. in T. Sharp Cov. Myst. (1825) 189 Rosyn & gome to þe same viijd. 1621H. Elsing Debates Ho. Lords (Camden) 34 Shewes the washing by them, who washed away the gum. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. v. 158 Gum, when pulverized should be kept perfectly dry. 1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. vi, The necessary gum and consistence of a substantial personality.
d. U.S. Short for chewing-gum (see chewing vbl. n. 3).
1842Spirit of Times (Phila.) 11 Apr. (Th.), [She] asked me if I didn't want A piece of gum to chaw. 1915J. Webster Dear Enemy (1916) 273 A painted yellow-haired thing who chewed gum like a cow. 1936R. E. Sherwood Idiot's Delight i. 36 You've got to hoard your gum here in Europe.
e. British gum (see British 5).
f. The viscid or waxy substance which surrounds the filaments of silk in its natural state.
1774in Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. II. (1786) 352 The substance which forms the silk, is in their stomach, which is very long; wound up as it were on two spindles and surrounded with a gum, commonly yellow, sometimes white, not often greenish. 1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 399 The silk being now spun, is put into a boiler filled with hot water, into which is put a small quantity of soap, in order to divest the silk of its gum. 1835Ure Philos. Manuf. vi. 248 Marabout... Being white as it comes from the worm, it takes the purest and most delicate shades of colour at once, without the discharge of its gum. 1887Encycl. Brit. XXII. 61/2 The natural gum of the cocoons which holds the filaments together. Ibid. 64/2 It has long been the practice to dye some dark silks ‘in the gum’. 1959Chambers's Encycl. XII. 555/1 After the first boiling the silk is hydro-extracted which removes the dirt and the bulk of the gum.
g. A mixture, of which gelatine is a main ingredient, from which a hard sweetmeat is made in a mould; a sweetmeat made of this.
1827G. A. Jarrin Italian Confect. (ed. 3) xxvi. 220 Pastilles, Mille-Fleurs are made with fine gum paste, of different colours. 1868L. M. Alcott Little Women vii. 101 Mr. Davis..had succeeded in banishing gum. 1894E. Skuse Compl. Confect. 103 There is a quantity of goods sold as French, American, German, &c., gums, all more or less a mixture of the genuine article, with gelatine, farina, &c. 1921Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §434 Starch hand (male),..gum boiler; weighs on scales, or, measures by means of measuring glass, ingredients for gums, mainly gelatine and butter;..pours the mixture, known as ‘gum’ or ‘boil’, when boiled, into trays or moulds. 1950C. T. Williams Chocolate & Confect. xiv. 172 Excessive stirring in any form of gum, pastille or jelly is to be discouraged, since granulation readily occurs. 1962Which? Sept. 283/1 Rowntree's Fruit Gums (tube).
h. ellipt. for kauri gum.
1839J. D. Lang N.Z. in 1839 59 This gum has recently been sold in some quantity..to the Americans who manufacture it into varnish. 1887Col. & Indian Exhib., Rep. Col. Sect. 287 The ordinary gum of commerce is the semi⁓fossilized turpentine of the [Kauri pine] tree. 1906Macm. Mag. Apr. 478 Not having caught on to the feel of the gum.
i. The substance whose presence causes a ropy condition in wine.
1888Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 603/2 It sometimes happens that wine becomes viscous and forms threads when poured from the bottle. This mischief, which is caused by the development of a foreign ferment, can be cured by the judicious addition of a solution of tannin, which precipitates the ‘gum’.
j. A non-volatile solid or semi-solid substance apt to be deposited by some petroleum products when stored for long periods or heated, and formed by the oxidation of certain of their constituents; it varies in nature from a soft, sticky mass to a hard, resinous layer.
1922Rep. Investigations U.S. Bur. Mines No. 2394. 4 A study of the gums that develop spontaneously when cracked gasoline is stored. 1926Industr. & Engin. Chem. Nov. 1198/2 Gum formation in gasoline claimed public notice when cracked gasoline began to be widely marketed. 1935Nash & Howes Princ. Motor Fuel Prep. & Applic. II. xiii. 105 The formation of gum in motor fuels..can lead to the seizure of inlet valves in their guides. 1944M. Van Winkle Aviation Gasoline Manuf. vii. 206 The addition of certain gum inhibitors to all grades of aviation gasoline is permitted. 1967W. A. Gruse Motor Fuels iii. 68 One type of instability, troublesome twenty-five years ago, and still occurring occasionally when storage conditions are bad or when a very unstable stock is employed, is the development of gum content in gasoline.
†2. (Chiefly pl.) Products of this kind employed as drugs or perfumes, or for burning as incense. Obs.
1382Wyclif Jer. viii. 22 Whether gumme is not in Galaad, or a leche is not there? 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. iii. 236 Spicers to hym speke..For he..knoweþ meny gommes. 1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. xvii, From the heade down unto her foote With sondry gommes..She is ennoynte. 1551Robinson tr. More's Utop. ii. (Arb.) 95 They burne swete gummes and spices or perfumes. 1559W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 191 Divers aromaticall spices, and Gummes. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 327 Altars I would reare..and thereon Offer sweet smelling Gumms. a1711Ken Hymns Evang. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 47 The Gumms which Sacred Rites consume, We bring. 1780Burke Sp. Secur. Indep. Parlt. Wks. III. 278 To embalm a carcass not worth an ounce of the gums that are used to preserve it.
3. With qualification.
a. In the names of various mucilaginous or resinous products, prefixed to a substantive or followed by an adjective, e.g. gum acacia, ammoniac, copal, elemi, guaiacum, lac, ladanum, olibanum, sandarac, tragacanth, for which see the second member; gum accroides = accaroid; gum-arabic (see Arabic 2); gum benjamin (see benjamin1 1); gum-dammar (see dammar); gum-dragon = tragacanth (see dragon2); gum-juniper = sandarac; gum-kino (see kino1 1); gum-senegal or † -senega, a variety of gum-arabic, named from the locality where it is obtained. Also chagual gum (see quot. 1880); sonora gum, resin obtained from the creosote-bush.
c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 49 Take frank encense, mastik, mirre, dragagantum, gumme arabik. 1718M. Eales Receipts 70 Make it up to a stiff Paste with Gum-Dragon well steept. 1759Ellis in Phil. Trans. LI. 208 Some of them were smeared several times over with gum senega. 1770Cook Jrnl. 1 May (1893) 245 We found 2 Sorts of Gum, one sort of which is like Gum Dragon. 1830Gum kino [see kino1 1]. 1844Hoblyn Dict. Med., Gum juniper, a concrete resin which exudes in white tears from the Juniperus Communis. It has been called sandarach,..Reduced to powder it is called pounce, which prevents ink from sinking into paper. 1851Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. IV. i. 997 Gum kino, from the blue gum-tree, the stringy bark, and other Eucalypti. 1851–9Gum benjamin [see benjamin1 1]. 1858Carpenter Veg. Phys. §346 Gum Senegal is similar to gum Arabic, being obtained from a kind of Acacia differing very little from that which yields the latter. 1868Watts Dict. Chem., Sonora gum, a kind of lac produced by the puncture of a coccus in Mimosa cerifera, a tree growing in Mexico. 1869A. R. Wallace Malay Archip. II. 8 Tortoise-shell, rattan gum-dammer, and other valuable products. 1880Encycl. Brit. XI. 275/2 Chagual gum, a new variety brought from St. Iago de Chili, resembles gum senegal. 1908W. Schlich Man. Forestry (ed. 3) V. 730 Gum-kino, a bright red, astringent gum-resin..from India and Ceylon. 1909Webster, Gum accroides. 1922Joyce Ulysses 502 Pellets of new bread with fennygreek and gumbenjamin. 1930Discovery Aug. 260/2 A coating of red ochre and then..another of gum damar boiled in oil. 1937Gum accroides [see accaroid].
b. gum elastic [after F. gomme elastique], india-rubber, caoutchouc (also elastic-gum: see elastic); rarely applied to gutta percha. Hence gum-elastical a. (nonce-wd.), resembling india-rubber.
1800Southey Lett. (1856) I. 90 A stretch of belief which requires a more gum-elastical faith than Heaven has allotted me. 1807Pepys in Phil. Trans. XCVII. 250 A small gum elastic bottle B. 1845in Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc. IV. 221 Specimens of the manufacture of Gum-elastic goods. 1851Forbes Veg. World ii. p. vi † /2 The Isonandra gutta, the source of the gum-elastic, known as gutta-percha.
c. gum ivy, † gum of ivy: the inspissated juice of the stem of the ivy.
c1550Lloyd Treas. Health (1585) G ij, Fyl the hollowe tooth with the gum of Iuy it will take away the toothe ache. 1576Baker Jewell of Health 130 b, He tooke of Galbanum one pounde, of gumme yvie three ounces. 1653Walton Angler vii. 157 Dissolve Gum of Ivie in Oyle of Spike, and therewith annoint your dead bait for a Pike. 1712tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 75 This is that which some Druggists..sell for Gum Ivy. 1787in Best Angling (ed. 2) 71. 1859 Atkinson Walks & Talks (1892) 3, I was trying to get gum-ivy, which an old fishing book I had said was a famous thing to anoint the baits with.
4. The sticky secretion that collects in the inner corner of the eye. (Either a sense transf. from 1, or connected with gum n.3)
1599Shakes. Hen. V, iv. ii. 48 The gumme downe roping from their pale-dead eyes. 1740E. Baynard Health (ed. 6) 16 When sleep does first desert you, rise; Next, wash the gum from off your eyes. 1886in Syd. Soc. Lex.
5. a. Short for gum-tree. Also preceded by various defining epithets, as black gum, blue gum, white gum, mountain gum, spotted, etc. gum (see also at first word).
1802D. Collins Acc. N.S. Wales II. xix. 235 The blue gum, she-oak, and cherry tree of Port Jackson were commonly here. 1820J. Oxley Jrnl. Exped. Australia 102 A few diminutive gums being the only timber to be seen. 1833C. Sturt South. Australia I. iii. 118 The cypresses became mixed with casuarina, box, and mountain-gum. Ibid. II. viii. 236 Eucalypti were the general timber on the ranges; one species..resembling strongly the black-butted gum, was remarkable for a scent peculiar to its bark. 1846J. L. Stokes Discov. Australia II. iv. 132 York gum... Abundant in York—on good soil. Ibid. xii. 387 The trees, which grew only in the valleys, were small kinds of banksia, wattles, and drooping gums. 1847F. W. L. Leichhardt Jrnl. Overland Exped. Austral. 6 The prevailing timber trees are Bastard box,..and the Flooded Gum. Ibid. i. 11 Ironbark ridges here and there with spotted gum..diversified the sameness. Ibid. 283 On the small flats, the apple-gum grew. 1848T. L. Mitchell Trop. Australia 107 A small group of trees of the yellow gum, a species of eucalyptus growing only on the poor sandy soil near Botany Bay. 1852L. A. Meredith My Home in Tasmania I. xi. 169 A kind of Eucalyptus, with long drooping leaves, called the ‘Weeping Gum’, is the most elegant of the family. 1864J. S. Moore Spring Life Lyrics 114 Amid grand old gums, dark cedars and pines. 1868Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 281 Some of the plants from which bees gather honey..black-gum (Nyssa multiflora). 1887Col. & Indian Exhib., Rep. Col. Sect. 420 Other noble trees, as the Blue, White, Red, Swamp, Water-rooted and Manna-drooping Gums. 1889Cider Gum [see sugar n. 5]. 1893Australasian 5 Aug. 252/4 The bark of the salmon gum approaches in colour to a rich golden brown. 1893Sydney Morning Herald 19 Aug. 7/1 Here are no straight and lofty trees, but sprawling cinnamon gums. 1894H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Rom. 34 A gaseous haziness, making the leafage of the gums look bluer than even they were. 1930Billis & Kenyon Pastures New viii. 123 The trees were very pretty, being a kind of weeping gum. 1947I. L. Idriess Isles of Despair vii. 44 Horn Island, with its stunted gums and cabbage-tree palms.
b. U.S. A log, usually cut from a gum-tree, hollowed out and adapted to serve as a beehive, a water-trough, or a well-curb. Cf. bee-gum.
1817J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 286 note, Any portion so cut off is called a gum, a name probably arising from the almost exclusive application of the gum tree to these purposes. 1844Gosse in Zoologist II. 607 A ‘gum’ or square box to hive the swarm for domestication. a1864Gesner Coal, Petrol., etc. (1865) 33 When the soil is not deep, a circular excavation is made down to the rock bed, and a hollow log, or ‘gum’, as it is called, is placed in it on one end. 1879J. Burroughs Locusts & W. Honey 29 No hive seems to please them as well as a section of a hollow tree—‘gums’—as they are called in the South and West where the sweet gum grows.
6. U.S. colloq. Short for elastic gum, i.e. india-rubber; occas. an india-rubber garment. Also pl. Goloshes. See gum-boots, -shoes in 9.
1859Bartlett Dict. Amer., Gum...2 India-rubber. Hence the plural Gums is often applied to India-rubber shoes. 1870R. G. White Words & their Uses Pref. (1881), ‘Where is Emily?’.. ‘O, Emily is outside cleaning her gums on the mat’.
7. A disease in fruit trees consisting in a morbid secretion of gum.
1721in Bailey. 1727–41Chambers Cycl., Gum, among gardeners, is a disease incident to fruit trees, of the stone kind. 1802W. Forsyth Fruit Trees v. (1824) 83 Wherever the knife is applied, it is sure to bring on the gum. 1852Beck's Florist 147 It [a kind of cherry] is very subject to gum and canker.
8. attrib. and Comb.:
a. simple attributive, as (sense 1) gum-forest, gum-furnace, gum-pot, gum-trade, gum-vessel; (sense 5) gum-bough, gum-leaf, gum-log, gum-swamp, gum-timber, gum-tip, gum-trunk; (sense 6) gum-catheter;
b. objective, as (sense 1) gum-bearing, gum-yielding adjs.;
c. instrumental, as (sense 4) gum-glued adj.; (sense 5) gum-shadowed, gum-shrouded adjs.;
d. similative, as gum-like adj.
1775Bruce in Phil. Trans. LXV. 415 There is another *gum-bearing tree.
1890Melbourne Argus 2 Aug. 4/3 Make a bit of a shelter..with..*gum-boughs.
1884M. Mackenzie Dis. Throat & Nose II. 226 A *gum catheter would then be passed..into the stomach.
1804Ann. Rev. II. 29/2 The Moors..encamp themselves round the *gum-forest of Zaara.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 1266 Then lay the fire in the *gum-furnace.
1682O. N. tr. Boileau's Lutrin iv. 14 His Pages starting at the sudden Noyse, Began to bustle, rubbing their *gum-glew'd Eyes.
1874Trollope Harry Heathcote i. 2 When the *gum leaves crackle..before Christmas, there won't be a blade of grass by the end of February. 1894H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Rom. 204 Making a soft bed of gum leaves. 1966‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 182 They might have chewed the moss off old fences and, at a pinch, say, taken on the gum-leaves.
1841Brande Chem. 1078 When the solutions are evaporated, uncrystallizable *gum-like compounds remain.
1836D. Crockett Exploits & Adv. Texas 82 (Th.), A chap just about as rough hewn as if he had been cut out of a *gum log with a broad axe. 1868W. L. Carleton Austral. Nts. 1 To see the gum-log flaming bright Its welcome beacon.
1875Bennett & Dyer Sachs' Bot. 77 The origin of resin and *gum passages depends on the formation of intercellular passages with a peculiar development of the cells which bound them.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 1266 The *gum-pot is now to be set upon the brick-stand.
1862H. C. Kendall Poems 134 The *gum-shadowed glen.
1890‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 201 Camped by the edge of the long black *gum-shrouded lagoon.
1816Sporting Mag. XLVIII. 244 Mrs. Ratley was riding across the *Gum-swamp in North Carolina.
1828P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 107 Our *gum timber being as durable and as well adapted to ship-building as the teak.
1955Sci. News Let. 12 Mar. 168/2 In 1952 it was discovered the koalas had eaten nearly all their food supplies and were in danger of starving to death. The public rushed to the rescue with carloads of *gum-tips.
1839in Spirit Metropol. Conserv. Press (1840) II. 328 The *gum trade, on the western coast of Africa.
1894H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Rom. 151 *Gum-trunks instead of the homelike trees.
1804Ann. Rev. II. 29/1 A large wooden tub, containing about 2000 lbs. weight,..is fixed on the deck of the *gum-vessels.
1887C. A. Moloney Forestry W. Afr. 128 Other *gum-yielding Acacias.
9. a. Special comb.: gum-animal, the Senegal galago (see quot.); gum-bichromate Photogr., designating a process of printing on paper coated with a mixture of pigment, gum-arabic, and potassium bichromate; also designating a print so produced; gum-boiler, one who boils certain sweetmeat mixtures; ˈgum-booted a., wearing gum-boots; gum-boots orig. U.S., boots made of ‘gum’ or india-rubber; gum-bucket Naval slang, a smoker's pipe; gum-chewer, one who chews chewing-gum; so gum-chewing vbl. n. and ppl. a.; gum-digger, one who digs for kauri gum; gum-digging, the occupation of a gum-digger; gum-drop U.S., a preparation of sweetened gum, used as a confection and in pharmacy; gum-field, an area where Kauri gum may be found; gum-flowers Sc., artificial flowers; also attrib.; gum-game U.S. slang, a trick or dodge; gum-hole N.Z., the hole a gum-digger sinks; gum-land N.Z., land where kauri gum is found; gum-nut Austral., the hardened flower-cup of Eucalyptus gummifera; gum-paper, paper gummed on one side; gum-platinum Photogr. (see quots.); gum-seal, an impression of a seal taken on softened gum; gum-shake (see shake n.1 9); gum-shoe U.S., (a) (in pl.) goloshes: cf. gum-boots; (b) fig. (U.S. colloq.), used attrib. to describe something done stealthily; hence, a detective; hence gum-shoe v. intr. (colloq., orig. U.S.), to move or act with stealth as if wearing gum-shoes; gum silk, silk from which the natural gum has not been removed; gum-spear N.Z., a spear used in probing soil for kauri gum; gum-sucker Austral., (a) a native Australian (esp. a Victorian) or Tasmanian; (b) a fool or simpleton; † gum-taffeta = gummed taffeta; gum-water, a solution of gum-arabic in water; gum-wood, the wood of the gum-tree; the tree itself; also attrib.; gum-worker Photogr., one who makes prints by any of the processes, such as the gum-bichromate process, in which gum-arabic is used.
1840Blyth Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. (1849) 65 The Senegal Galago (Galago Senegalensis, Geof.)..is known as the *Gum animal of Senegal, from its feeding much on that production.
1897Wall Dict. Photogr. (ed. 7) 117 The *gum-bichromate or photo-aquatint process. 1900Daily News 1 Oct. 7/4 A striking profile done in red by the gum-bichromate process. 1919Brit. Jrnl. Photogr. Alm. 252 In the gum-bichromate process, also termed aquatint or photo-aquatint. 1962M. R. Haselgrove Photographer's Dict. 124 Gum bichromate prints. These are made by a nearly obsolete process, but are luckily still to be seen in our major exhibitions.
1921*Gum boiler [see 1 g].
1930Blunden De Bello Germanico 10 The unshaven, clay-cased, and *gum-booted one. 1960News Chron. 27 Apr. 1/7 Gum-booted searchers waded in the shallows.
1850E. Christman One Man's Gold (1930) 119, I put on my long *gum boots and waded through the water. 1875Wood & Lapham Waiting for Mail 112 The long indiarubber ‘gum’ boots.. that he worked in at the claim. 1897Daily News 10 July 8/4 Without the assistance of ‘gum’ boots or dust-defying gaiters. 1917‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 220 A bus lands and taxies to a shed. From it descends the Squadron Commander, who, with gum-boots and a warm coat over his pyjamas, has been ‘trying the air’. 1921Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 28 Oct. 20/3 (Advt.), Men's pure gum boots, with red soles, hip length $6.95. 1962Lancet 15 Dec. 1272/1 Twice a day I put on my gumboots to go out to feed [chickens]. 1970Times 10 Feb. 1/7 More than 200 policemen in gumboots..drained ponds and dragged the stream.
1893Funk's Stand. Dict., *Gum bucket, a tobacco pipe. 1917‘Taffrail’ Sub viii. §2. 204 ‘The Bloke’ was an inveterate smoker. I never remember seeing him off duty without a ‘gum-bucket’, as he called it, in his mouth. 1919‘Etienne’ Strange Tales from Fleet 143 Mr. Smith, revived by the cocoa and soothed by the pipe, known as the ‘gum-bucket’ to his pals.
1850S. Judd R. Edney 158 There are the *Gum-chewers,—all backlotters; and vulgar. 1938I. Kuhn Assigned to Adventure v. 51 His conviction that the gum-chewers relish stories about the upper classes.
1889Sunday Opinion (Pueblo, Colo.) 14 July 4/5 The careful observer can not fail to note the growing prevalency of *gum chewing. 1907Daily Chron. 29 July 5/2 The gum-chewing habit. 1960D. Storey This Sporting Life i. ii. 31 The other gum-chewing player. 1961Encounter Apr. 24/1 Local hot-rodders and their gum-chewing molls. 1967Coast to Coast 1965–6 101 He became the victim of their gum-chewing..inattention.
1884C. F. Gordon Cumming in Century Mag. XXVII. 924 A large class of men, both Maori and European, known as *gum-diggers. c1858in Richmond-Atkinson Papers (1960) I. 437 Of the kauri gum diggers 9/10ths are furnished by this tribe. 1871Evening Post (Wellington, N.Z.) 4 Jan. 2/3 A gum-digger named Denis McManus, has been burned to death at Riverhead, Auckland. 1921N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. 20 May 260 To break in these lands one must first face the legacy left by the gum-digger. 1965G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. ii. 14/1 Coal had been discovered by gum-diggers near Kawakawa in Northland in 1861.
1871McLean Papers XXXVII. 72 (MS.), Paora Toki..is gone *gum-digging up the Thames. 1879J. Grey His Island Home iv. 34 A great many of the natives abandoned their kaingas and went gum-digging, when that article brought a high price. 1892Star 13 July 1/8 He picked up a precarious livelihood by gum-digging.
1860North-West (Port Townsend, Wash.) 5 July 3/3 Candies, *gum drops, mottoes. 1864Sala in Daily Tel. 30 Mar., The soldiers spending their abundant greenbacks..in fig and gum-drops.
1880W. Senior Travel & Trout in Antipodes ii. ii. 182 The *gum-fields..indicate that the fine forests have disappeared at an alarming rate.
1886N. Zealand Herald 28 May 5/5 Praying that the gumfields..should be opened during the winter season.
1756M. Calderwood Jrnl. (1884) 316 A crown of *gum-flowers, which was afterwards put on her. 1821Galt Ann. Parish xii. (1895) 86 There was she painted like a Jezebel, with gum-flowers on her head. 1829Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 276 Broken Italian gumflowers. 1864Browning in Mem. Tennyson (1897) II. i. 16 As if they want seed in a gum⁓flower manufactory.
1840in Amer. Speech (1941) XVI. 299 I've come the *gum game over you. 1872E. Eggleston Hoosier Schoolmaster xiv. 118 Now, looky here... You don't come no gum games over me. 1885Lisbon (Dak.) Star 18 Sept., They tried the gum-game on me down in Pennsylvania..but I came out ahead.
1882W. D. Hay Brighter Britain! II. i. 17 Rich *gum-holes here and there. 1900N.Z. Illustr. Mag. III. 205/1 Each man sinks his own gumhole where he strikes the first gum.
1882W. D. Hay Brighter Britain! II. i. 16 On our farm and in the surrounding bush, though these are distinctly not *gum⁓lands. 1900N.Z. Illustr. Mag. III. 203/1 Here, then, on this gumland is where the old Kauri forests grew. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. June 535/1 Gumland soils vary in type from peat, on some of the flats, through light to medium clay loams, to heavy clay soils.
1936F. D. Davison Children of Dark People x. 143 They'd tell the *gum-nuts and they would drop to the ground and tell the grass. 1965Austral. Encycl. III. 406/1 When stamens fall and the young seeds [of Eucalyptus gummifera] are fertilized, the flower-cup hardens into a woody capsule (‘gum-nut’) which opens..to shed the seed. 1965M. Shadbolt Among Cinders xx. 189 Gum-nuts. There might be a few scattered round.
1898Westm. Gaz. 4 Mar. 5/3 An extremely thin slip of *gum paper inserted along the inside edge.
1918Photo-Miniature XV. Mar. (Gloss.), *Gum-platinum process—of first making a light print on platinum paper, then coating the print with sensitive gum mixture and reprinting from the same negative. 1919Brit. Jrnl. Photogr. Alm. 252 Gum-platinum is a compound process, in which a pale print on platinum paper is coated with the sensitive gum mixture, and a second (pigment) image produced by re-printing under the same negative.
1826Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 281 The most trifling womanly occupations—making *gum⁓seals, imitating cameos.
1887Col. & Indian Exhib., Rep. Col. Sect. 427 These are all large trees..—some are a little liable to *gum-shakes.
1863P. S. Davis Young Parson 12 A little boy who wore his father's *gum shoes in dry weather. 1872Morn. Post 9 Jan. (Farmer) Forbidding him..to leave his gum-shoes in her hall. 1904‘H. McHugh’ I'm from Missouri iii. 44 It seemed that every voter in the community quit work and gum-shoed after the Two Candidates. 1904Omaha Bee 24 Oct. 4 No gumshoe democratic campaign in Nebraska. 1906A. H. Lewis Confess. Detective 198 You're d'gum-shoe guy I was waitin' fer... It was Inspector Val tells me to lay for you. 1907Springfield (Mass.) Weekly Republ. 4 Apr. 2 He..was forced to accomplish his ends by main strength rather than by gum-shoe methods. 1908J. M. Sullivan Crim. Slang 11 Gumshoe worker, a private detective; a spotter. 1913H. A. Franck Zone Policeman 88 159 But the ‘gum shoe’ naturally cannot twirl a police club. 1927D. Hammett in Black Mask Nov. 21/2 He..looked me up and down, growled: ‘So you're a lousy gum-shoe.’ 1930J. K. Winkler J. Pierpont Morgan 264 That eminent political gum-shoe artist. 1951J. Cannan And All I Learned ix. 140 A seventeenth-century President of Trinity who *gum-shoed round the college gardens carrying a whip.
1930Publishers' Weekly 8 Feb. 718 Under the present obscene book law the vice crusader..goes *gum-shoeing around from one bookseller to another. 1954‘N. Blake’ Whisper in Gloom iv. 58 What were you doing, gum-shoeing around Mr. Gray's premises? 1962Spectator 1 June 728/3 Ross MacDonald..is a thoroughly competent detective-story writer, specialising in West Coast private-eye stories. In The Wycherly Woman..his gumshoe hero Archer searches for a missing student.
1885Encycl. Brit. (1887) XXII. 64/1 Sugar is known to have been used for adulterating and loading *gum silk for a very long time.
1873J. E. Tinne Wonderland of Antipodes 54, I saw them at work with their *gum-spears. 1888P. W. Barlow Kaipara xix. 147 A gum-digger's outfit..consists of a spade, a gum-spear and a piece of sacking... The gum-spear is a four-sided rod of steel, about four feet long, and pointed at one end. 1906Macm. Mag. Apr. 478 A green hand of a gummy, that hadn't quite got the trick of it yet, went poking around that very cabbage-tree with his gum-spear.
1855W. Howitt Two Y. Victoria I. 24 Too 'cute to be bitten twice by the over 'cute ‘*gum-suckers’, as the native Victorians are called. 1887All Year Round 30 July 67/2 A ‘gum-sucker’ is a native of Tasmania, and owes his elegant nickname to the abundance of gum-trees in the Tasmanian forests. 1936W. Lawson When Cobb and Co. was King xii. 223 Some men..called them ‘gumsuckers’, and a few other things. 1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 33 Gumsucker.
1738Swift Pol. Convers. Wks. 1778 X. 236 Faith, you have made her fret like *gum-taffety. 1761Sterne Tr. Shandy III. iv, You are so fortunate a fellow, as to have had your jerkin made of a gum-taffeta, and the body-lining to it, of a sarcenet or thin persian.
1639Roberts Compleat Canonier (1672) 46 With a chalk line, dipt in *Gum-water. 1759Colebrooke in Phil. Trans. LI. 43 A ground was laid..with levigated chalk mixed with gum water. 1869Semple Diphtheria 155 Injections of gum-water were passed into the trachea.
1683Penn Wks. (1782) IV. 302 The trees of most note, are..poplar, *gumwood, hickery. 1897P. Warung Tales Old Regime 133 Blocks of pine or gum-wood. 1898Westm. Gaz. 28 June 10/1, I tried..grafting on gumwood stocks.
1908Westm. Gaz. 3 Oct. 14/2 Some photographers now classify themselves as *gum-workers, oil-workers, and so forth.
b. In names of plants yielding gum: gum-cistus, one of the shrubs of the genus Cistus which yield ladanum; gum-plant, a plant of the genus Grindelia, which is covered with a viscid secretion; gum-succory, (a) Chondrilla juncea; also, the gum produced from it; (b) Lactuca perennis; gum-thistle, Onopordium acanthium. Also gum-tree.
1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 110/1 The *Gum Cistus hath..a clammy sweet moisture called Gum Laudanum. 1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 73 A flower almost as transitory as the gum cistus. 1858G. Macdonald Phantastes xix. 225 The gum-cistus..drops every night all the blossoms that the day brings forth.
1548Turner Names of Herbes 26 Chondrilla... It maye be named in englishe Ryshe Succory or *gum Succory because it hath a clammy humour in it. 1551― Herbal i. K j, The leaues & the stalke of gume succory haue the poour for to degest. 1756Watson in Phil. Trans. XLIX. 845 The least wild Lettuce, or Dwarf Gum-Succory.
1548Turner Names of Herbes 8 Acanthium... I thynke it maye be called in englishe..*gum thistle..because it is gummy. 1656Ridgley Pract. Physick 311 He strewed..the powder of Gum Thistle very safely, upon Ulcers with rottenness of the Bones.
▸ gum ball n. orig. and chiefly U.S. (a) a small rubber ball, used as toy, etc. (now rare); (b) a ball of chewing gum usually with a coloured sugar coating and typically dispensed from a machine.
1852Defiance (Ohio) Democrat (Electronic text) 4 Dec. Gun caps—*gum balls. Toys for the children. 1904‘O. Henry’ Heart of West (1917) vii. 94 ‘Cricket’ McGuire, ex-feather-weight prizefighter, tout, jockey, follower of the ‘ponies’, all-round sport, and manipulator of the gum balls and walnut shells, looked up pugnaciously. 1915Gaz. & Bull. (Williamsport, Pa.) 15 Dec. 3/4 (advt.) Footballs, striking balls, and gum balls. 1986L. Erdrich Beet Queen (1989) i. ii. 29, I never chewed gum balls through, because I heard Auntie Adelaide tell mother once, in anger, that only tramps chewed gum. 1998Science 8 May 823/2 Atom counters approach the problem roughly like a geometry student estimating how many gum balls are in a gum-ball machine.
▪ III. gum, n.3
See red-gum and white-gum.
▪ IV. † gum, n.4 Sc. Obs.
Mist, vapour.
1513Douglas æneis vii. Prol. 131 Wyth cloudy gum and rak ourquhelmyt the air. Ibid. xiii. Prol. 31 The gummys rysis, doun fallis the donk rym.
▪ V. † gum, n.5 Obs. rare—1.
Also 6 gomme.
= gumma. ? Also Comb. gum-galled adj.
1558Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. 13 b, A verie goodly secrete for the gommes [It. gomme] or burgeons that remaine of the great Pockes. 1693Sc. Presbyt. Eloquence (1738) 139 That filthy Bitch, that gumgall'd Whore, the Whore of Babylon.
▪ VI. gum, n.6 dial. and vulgar.|gʌm|
[Deformation of god. Cf. gom.]
In phr. by (or my) gum = by (or my) God. Also gummie, gummy.
c1815J. K. Paulding Bucktails (1847) ii. 34 By gum, that's jist what I want you to tell me, I swow. 1827T. Hood Works (1862) I. 311 But Hunks still ask'd to see the tooth, And swore by gum! he had not drawn it. 1832W. Stephenson Gateshead Local Poems 100 Aw said let's ken what a' this means, By gum to hear't aw's weary. 1845S. Judd Margaret i. xvi. 139 ‘Gummy!’ retorted the woman. ‘He has been a talkin' about me.’ 1857‘C. Bede’ Verdant Green iii. x, My gum, Giglamps! you'll be the death of me some fine day. 1887H. Smart Cleverly won i. 10 Newmarket Heath may make you shiver, but, by gum! it gives you an appetite. 1894Blackmore Perlycross 194 Got you there, Sergeant; by gum, I did! 1932W. L. Graff Lang. 283 The name of God is avoided and gives way to such substitutes as Jove,..gory, gummie. 1970Private Eye 22 May 16 By gum, it must be visiting day up at hall.
▪ VII. gum, n.7 Mining (orig. Sc.).|gʌm|
[Origin uncertain; perh. related to culm1, coom n.1]
Coal dust, fine coal; now esp. that produced by a coal-cutting machine.
1790–1925in Scottish Nat. Dict. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-M. 125 Gum, free-burning small slack or duff. 1938Colliery Engin. Mar. 81/2 The amount of gum left in the bottom of the cut never exceeded 3/4 in. in thickness. 1964V. Shiffer tr. Shevyakov's Mining of Mineral Deposits xi. 236 To prevent the formation of gum and dust, the combine is furnished with a spraying device.
b. Comb., as gum-flinger, gum-loader, gum-thrower.
1940Trans. Inst. Mining Engin. May 53 Mechanical devices which trap the broken material brought out by the cutter-chain..have been given such names as jud cleaners,..gummers, and gum loaders. 1956E. Mason Deputy's Man. II. xxxiv. 501 The same machine can be equipped with a ‘gum flinger’. 1960Shepherd & Withers Mech. Cutting & Loading of Coal v. 75 ‘Gum-throwers’..take up the cuttings from the chain and eject them into the goaf.
So ˈgummer3, a man or a machine that clears away the fine coal and small bits of debris, etc., from under a coal-cutting machine.
1921Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §042 Gummer,..rakes small coal or stone by means of long-handled flat shovel..out of groove cut by coal cutting machine, and loads into tubs or throws back into goaf. 1940Trans. Inst. Mining Engin. May 54 Except in special cases, undercutting coal-cutters will be fitted with gummers as standard practice in the future. 1959New Scientist 23 July 102/3 Beneath the cutting head is a ‘gummer’—a paddle-bladed scraper which removes all the small coal from under the machine. 1959G. D. Mitchell Sociol. iii. viii. 136 Four gummers, who clean out the undercut.
▪ VIII. gum, v.1|gʌm|
Forms: 5 gomme, 5, 7 gumme, 7– gum.
[f. gum n.2]
†1. trans. To treat with aromatic gums, as in flavouring wine or embalming a corpse. Obs.
1419Proclam. in Riley Lond. Mem. (1868) 672 William Horold, Couper..gummyd and rasyd two buttes with diuers gummes. 1470–85Malory Arthur v. viii, Noble men whome the kynge dyd do bawme and gomme with many good gommes aromatyk.
2. To stiffen with gum; to coat or smear with or as with gum.
1610B. Jonson Alch. i. i, Ile gumme your silkes With good strong water, an' you come. 1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 239 They register..his acts..in Cædar Tablets, gum'd with Cynabre. 1683Burnet tr. More's Utopia (1684) 75 They use also in their Windows, a thin linnen Cloth, that is..oiled or gummed. 1896Indianapolis Typogr. Jrnl. 16 Nov. 392 A new method of gumming paper.
3. To fasten, or fix in position with gum or some sticky substance. Also with down, together, up.
1592Kyd Sp. Trag. (1602) I 3 Thy eies are gum'd with teares, thy cheekes are wan. 1636B. Jonson Discov., De mollibus et effœminatis (1641) 110 Bleaching their hands at Mid-night, gumming, and bridling their beards. 1655W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. x. 209/2 The doubting Christians eye of faith, is..gumm'd up with unbelieving fears. 1656Artif. Handsom. 176 Scandalised at Ladies powdering, curling, and gumming their haire. 1776–96Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 775 When dried and gummed on paper, they [leafits] form an acute angle with the stalk. 1874G. Lawson Dis. Eye 145 If the lids become gummed together. 1876F. E. Trollope Charming Fellow I. iv. 46 Little rings of hair gummed down all over her forehead. 1880Standard 15 Dec., Shilling deposits can be made by means of penny stamps gummed on forms.
4. intr. Of a fruit tree: To exude gum as a morbid secretion. Cf. gum n.2 7.
1794Trans. Soc. Arts XII. 207 Several of the cherries [trees] were much gummed. 1802Ibid. XX. 173 To prevent the cherry tree from gumming. 1837Penny Cycl. VII. 41/1 When planted in stiff and wet soils it [the cherry] grows slowly, gums very much, and falls into a state of incurable bad health.
5. ? U.S.
a. To become gummous.
b. ‘To become clogged or stiffened by some gummy substance, as inspissated oil; as, a machine will gum up from disuse’ (Cent. Dict.). Also with up.
1874Raymond 6th Rep. Mines 509 The oil solidifies or gums, and clogs the holes. 1929Motor World 24 May 328/2 The valves of car engines have always exhibited a tendency to ‘gum-up’ under certain conditions. 1931Carnegie Scholarship Mem. XX. 96 The most unsatisfactory material in this respect was copper, which drew rather badly with all the lubricants tried, and seemed to ‘gum up’ in the die very readily.
c. trans. fig. To interfere with the smooth running of (something); to spoil, wreck. Chiefly with up. Freq. in phr. to gum the game, to gum (up) the works. orig. U.S.
1901Yale Fun 27 (Weingarten), The plot that was gummed. 1911L. J. Vance Cynthia 174 You've just about gummed things up good and plenty, that's what you've done. 1915Dialect Notes IV. 222 Gum the game, delay the game. ‘Jack's tactics were to gum the game.’ 1920Wodehouse Coming of Bill i. v. 60 It sure would get my goat..to have the old man gum the game for them. 1932― Hot Water xi. 181 When it comes to you horning into this joint and aiming to gum the works for me..well, that's something else again. 1932Kipling Limits & Renewals 281 The main point, as I read it, is that it makes one—not so much think—Research is gummed up with thinking—as imagine a bit. 1936J. Dos Passos Big Money 263, I hope it wasn't me gummed the game. 1938G. Heyer Blunt Instrument ix. 174 Helen's getting mixed up in it gummed up the works. 1948‘M. Westmacott’ Rose & Yew Tree xxii. 183 She hasn't gummed up the works after all. What a relief that will be to her. 1964Listener 8 Oct. 548/2 Their Land Commission—far from providing more and cheaper houses, would..gum up house-building.
6. trans. To cheat, delude, humbug. U.S. slang. [Said to originate from the opossum's eluding the huntsman in the foliage of a gum-tree.]
1840Frankfort (Ky.) Commonwealth 20 Oct., You are always right as a book and nobody can gum you. In short, you are O.K. 1848Lowell Biglow P. Poems 1890 II. 144 You can't gum me, I tell ye now, an' so you need n't try. 1859Sala Tw. round Clock (1861) 232, I began to think..he was quizzing me—‘gumming’ is the proper Transatlantic colloquialism. 1875Chamb. Jrnl. 25 Sept. 611/1 Now don't you try to gum me.
▪ IX. gum, v.2 U.S.|gʌm|
[f. gum n.1]
trans. To deepen and enlarge the spaces between the teeth of (a worn saw). See gummer1.
1777W. Dunbar in E. O. Rowland Life W. Dunbar (1930) 41 Begun to gum one of our old saws, having unfortunately broke one of the new ones by the fall of a Log. 1859Bartlett Dict. Amer., To Gum a Saw, to punch out and give the set to the teeth of a saw, by means of a machine called a gummer. The phrase alludes to the growth of the teeth from the gums. 1887Sci. Amer. 26 Feb. 130 The operation of gumming saws with an emery wheel.
▪ X. gum
variant of gome1 Obs. |