gum

noun

/ɡʌm/

Idioms

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[countable, usually plural] either of the areas of flesh in the mouth to which the teeth are attached
- gum disease
Topics Bodyc1
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- lower
- upper
- toothless
- …
gum + noun
- disease
See full entry
[uncountable] a sticky substance produced by some types of tree see also xanthan gum
[uncountable] a type of glue used for sticking light things together, such as paper see also spirit gum
(also chewing gum)
[uncountable] a sweet that you chew (= bite many times) but do not eat
[countable] a fairly hard, coloured sweet that tastes of fruit and that you chew
- fruit gums
see also fruit gum, wine gumTopics Foodb2

Word Originnoun senses 2 to 5 Middle English: from Old French gomme, based on Latin gummi, from Greek kommi, from Egyptian kemai. noun sense 1 Old English gōma ‘inside of the mouth or throat’, of Germanic origin; related to German Gaumen ‘roof of the mouth’.

Idioms

by gum!

(old-fashioned, informal) used to show surprise

gum

verb

/ɡʌm/

(rather old-fashioned)

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they gum	/ɡʌm/ /ɡʌm/
he / she / it gums	/ɡʌmz/ /ɡʌmz/
past simple gummed	/ɡʌmd/ /ɡʌmd/
past participle gummed	/ɡʌmd/ /ɡʌmd/
-ing form gumming	/ˈɡʌmɪŋ/ /ˈɡʌmɪŋ/

Phrasal Verbs

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gum A to B | gum something (down) to spread glue on the surface of something; to stick two things together with glue
- A large address label was gummed to the package.
Word Originverb Middle English: from Old French gomme, based on Latin gummi, from Greek kommi, from Egyptian kemai.