Wiktionary

gum

See also: Gum and GUM

English edit

Pronunciation edit

  • enPR: gŭm, IPA(key): /ɡʌm/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌm

Etymology 1 edit

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 edit

gum (plural gums)

  1. (often in the plural) The flesh around the teeth.
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Terms derived from gum (noun, etymology 1)
Translations edit

Verb edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit
Terms derived from gum (etymology 2)
Related terms edit
Translations edit
chewing gum — see chewing gum
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb edit

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.
  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 edit

Anagrams edit

Czech edit

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

gum

  1. genitive plural of guma

Dutch edit

Alternative forms edit

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

Etymology edit

A relatively recent variant of gom.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

gum m (plural gummen, diminutive gummetje n)

  1. An eraser.

Derived terms edit

Hausa edit

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ɡùm/
    • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA(key): [ɡʷʊ̀m]

Ideophone edit

gùm

  1. smelling bad

Alternative forms edit

Icelandic edit

Etymology edit

From Proto-Germanic *gaumō (“attention, heed”)[1]

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

gum n (genitive singular gums, no plural)

  1. boasting, exaggeration
    Synonyms: gort, raup

Declension edit

declension of gum
n-s singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative gum gumið gum gumin
accusative gum gumið gum gumin
dative gumi guminu gumum gumunum
genitive gums gumsins guma gumanna

Derived terms edit

  • guma (“to boast, to exaggerate”)

References edit

  1. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013) “gumen”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 195

Middle English edit

Noun edit

gum

  1. Alternative form of gumme

Polish edit

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

gum f pl

  1. genitive plural of guma

Salar edit

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

  • (Ejia, Daowei, Xunhua, Qinghai, Ili, Yining, Xinjiang) IPA(key): [kum]

Noun edit

gum (3rd person possessive gumı, plural gumlar)

  1. sand

References edit

  • 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[1], Tokyo: University of Tokyo, →ISBN, page 109

Scots edit

Etymology 1 edit

From English gum.

Noun edit

gum (plural gums)

  1. gum

Etymology 2 edit

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

Alternative forms edit

Noun edit

gum (plural gums)

  1. mist, vapour, haze

Scottish Gaelic edit

Alternative forms edit

Pronunciation edit

Conjunction edit

gum

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

Usage notes edit

  • Used before b, f, m and p.

Sumerian edit

Romanization edit

gum

  1. Romanization of 𒄣 (gum)

Turkmen edit

Noun edit

gum (definite accusative [please provide], plural [please provide])

  1. sand

Zazaki edit

Noun edit

gum

  1. (anatomy) cheek
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