gum

1. (transitive) To deepen and enlarge the spaces between the teeth of (a worn saw), as with a gummer.transitive

1. (botany, biochemistry, chiefly uncountable) A viscous water-soluble carbohydrate exudate of certain plants that hardens when it becomes dry, or such a substance as a component of a plant exudate.Examples: "gum arabic"; "gum-oleo-resin"uncountable

2. (chiefly uncountable) Any viscous or sticky substance resembling the true gum.Examples: "gum benzoin"; "[…] becoomed wi' the gum o' the coal-hill […]"uncountable

3. (chiefly uncountable) Chewing gum.uncountable

4. (countable) A single piece of chewing gum.Examples: "Do you have a gum to spare?"; "Levi unwrapped a gum and put it in his mouth."countable

5. (South Africa, often in the plural) A gummi candy.South-Africacountablein-pluraloftenuncountable

6. (US, dialect, Southern US) A hive made of a section of a hollow gum tree; hence, any roughly made hive.Southern-USUScountabledialectaluncountable

1. (sometimes with up) To apply an adhesive or gum to; to make sticky by applying a sticky substance to.Examples: "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."sometimeswith-up

2. (sometimes with together) To inelegantly attach into a sequence.Examples: "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."sometimes

3. (colloquial, with up) To impair the functioning of a thing or process.Examples: "That cheap oil will gum up the engine valves."; "The new editor can gum up your article with too many commas."colloquialwith-up