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Gum   /gəm/   Listen
noun
Gum  n.  The dense tissues which invest the teeth, and cover the adjacent parts of the jaws.
Gum rash (Med.), strophulus in a teething child; red gum.
Gum stick, a smooth hard substance for children to bite upon while teething.


Gum  n.  
1.
A vegetable secretion of many trees or plants that hardens when it exudes, but is soluble in water; as, gum arabic; gum tragacanth; the gum of the cherry tree. Also, with less propriety, exudations that are not soluble in water; as, gum copal and gum sandarac, which are really resins.
2.
(Bot.) See Gum tree, below.
3.
A hive made of a section of a hollow gum tree; hence, any roughly made hive; also, a vessel or bin made of a hollow log. (Southern U. S.)
4.
A rubber overshoe. (Local, U. S.)
Black gum, Blue gum, British gum, etc. See under Black, Blue, etc.
Gum Acaroidea, the resinous gum of the Australian grass tree (Xanlhorrhoea).
Gum animal (Zool.), the galago of West Africa; so called because it feeds on gums. See Galago.
Gum animi or animé. See Anime.
Gum arabic, a gum yielded mostly by several species of Acacia (chiefly A. vera and A. Arabica) growing in Africa and Southern Asia; called also gum acacia. East Indian gum arabic comes from a tree of the Orange family which bears the elephant apple.
Gum butea, a gum yielded by the Indian plants Butea frondosa and B. superba, and used locally in tanning and in precipitating indigo.
Gum cistus, a plant of the genus Cistus (Cistus ladaniferus), a species of rock rose.
Gum dragon. See Tragacanth.
Gum elastic, Elastic gum. See Caoutchouc.
Gum elemi. See Elemi.
Gum juniper. See Sandarac.
Gum kino. See under Kino.
Gum lac. See Lac.
Gum Ladanum, a fragrant gum yielded by several Oriental species of Cistus or rock rose.
Gum passages, sap receptacles extending through the parenchyma of certain plants (Amygdalaceae, Cactaceae, etc.), and affording passage for gum.
Gum pot, a varnish maker's utensil for melting gum and mixing other ingredients.
Gum resin, the milky juice of a plant solidified by exposure to air; one of certain inspissated saps, mixtures of, or having properties of, gum and resin; a resin containing more or less mucilaginous and gummy matter.
Gum sandarac. See Sandarac.
Gum Senegal, a gum similar to gum arabic, yielded by trees (Acacia Verek and A. Adansoniä) growing in the Senegal country, West Africa.
Gum tragacanth. See Tragacanth.
Gum water, a solution of gum, esp. of gum arabic, in water.
Gum wood, the wood of any gum tree, esp. the wood of the Eucalyptus piperita, of New South Wales.


verb
Gum  v. t.  To deepen and enlarge the spaces between the teeth of (a worn saw). See Gummer.


Gum  v. t.  (past & past part. gummed; pres. part. gumming)  
1.
To smear with gum; to close with gum; to unite or stiffen by gum or a gumlike substance; to make sticky with a gumlike substance. "He frets like a gummed velvet."
2.
To chew with the gums, rather than with the teeth.
gum up
(a)
To block or clog (a conduit) with or as if with gum; as, to gum up the drainpipe.
(b)
to interfere with; to spoil. (Slang)


Gum  v. i.  To exude or form gum; to become gummy.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Gum" Quotes from Famous Books



... cook took on a new duty of the maintenance of hot pails of bran mash and salt water for the relief of frozen hands. Heavy gum-shoes, worn over lighter footgear and reaching with felt-padded thickness far toward the knee, encased the feet. Hands numbed, in spite of thick mittens; each week saw a new snowfall, bringing with it the consequent thaws and the hardening of the surface. ...
— The White Desert • Courtney Ryley Cooper
... she laughed. (When she laughed the gum showed above her upper teeth.) 'Isn't it true, Bazarov; he's ...
— Fathers and Children • Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
... miscellaneous papers and envelopes; pigeon-holes crammed full of answered and unanswered notes, some with crests on them, some with plain wax clinging to the flap of the broken envelopes; many held together with the gum of the common world. Here, too, were bundles of old letters tied with tape; piles of pamphlets, quaint trays holding pens and pencils, and here too was always to be found, in summer or in winter, a big vase full of roses or ...
— Peter - A Novel of Which He is Not the Hero • F. Hopkinson Smith
... Rice gruel; Water gruel; Arrowroot gruel; Beef liquid; Beef tea; Panado; French milk porridge; Coffee milk; Drink for dysentery; Crust coffee; Cranberry water; Wine whey; Mustard whey; Chicken broth; Calves'-foot jelly; Slippery elm jelly; Nutritive fluids; Gum acacia restorative; Soups for the convalescent; Eggs; Milk for ...
— The Ladies Book of Useful Information - Compiled from many sources • Anonymous
... ascending on the tranquil morning air. The scarlet banner of the woodbine fluttered from many a tree like a bloody omen, the ash was clad in purple robes, the elm and linden trees were like yellow flames among the bright red fires of gum and dogwood. The purple haze over all gave to the scene ...
— See America First • Orville O. Hiestand


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