gum

Etymology 1

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

1. (often in the plural) The flesh around the teeth.

verb

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

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

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.
3. (chiefly uncountable) Chewing gum.
4. (countable) A single piece of chewing gum.
   Do you have a gum to spare?
   Levi unwrapped a gum and put it in his mouth. 2005, Zadie Smith, On Beauty, Penguin Books (2006), page 388
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.

verb

1. (sometimes with up) To apply an adhesive or gum to; to make sticky by applying a sticky substance to.
   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. 2012, Julie Hedgepeth Williams, A Rare Titanic Family: The Caldwells' Story of Survival, page 184
2. To stiffen with glue or gum.
3. (sometimes with together) To inelegantly attach into a sequence.
   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. 1946, George Orwell, Politics and the English Language
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.