gum

Word family

Related topics: Human, Food, Technology, Daily life, Forestry, Plants

gum1 /ɡʌm/ S3 noun

1. [countableC usually plural]HBHHBA your gums are the two areas of firm pink flesh at the top and bottom of your mouth, in which your teeth are fixed 齿龈，牙龈

2. [uncountableU]DF chewing gum 口香糖

3. [uncountableU] British EnglishBrETD a type of glue used to stick light things such as paper together 黏胶

4. [uncountableU]TAF a sticky substance found in the stems of some trees 树胶

5. [countableC]HBP a gum tree 产树胶的树，胶树

6. by gum! spoken old-fashionedSURPRISED used to express surprise 哎哟！〔表示惊讶〕

Examples from the Corpus

gum• There, they surrendered cigarettes, breath mints and gum, which might pick up radioactivity that could be ingested.• Somewhere between ginger, orange, peppermint and chewing gum.• Vitamin C is also important for healthy gums.• She was always laughing, and her gums were all pink and wet and shiny.• He champed on his gum in time to the music, and kept a poker-faced expression.• The forests are mostly mixes of loblolly pine and sweet gum, with a holly and huckleberry understory.• The gum looks clear over them and they will soon be through.

gum2 verb (gummed, gumming) [transitiveT always + adverbadv/prepositionprep]

1 British EnglishBrE old-fashionedSTICK to stick things together using glue 〔用胶〕黏住 SYN glue

gum something to something

A large label had been gummed to the back of the photograph.

照片的背后贴了一张大标签。

2 gum something ↔ up phrasal verbphr v informal STOP something THAT IS HAPPENINGto prevent a machine from moving and working properly 使〔机器〕卡住；使出故障

Dirt had got inside the watch and gummed up the works.

手表里进了污垢，把机件卡住了。

Examples from the Corpus

gum• The Crows thought long hair was fashionable, and sometimes gummed horsetails into it to increase its length.• Any post office receipts for registered mail should be gummed into a special book kept for that purpose. 5.• The theory is that his balky digestion -- gummed up by too much fruit -- will now return to normal.• Her mouth was gummed up from licking too many envelopes, and she needed a cup of coffee.• It can gum up the intestine or cause acute appendicitis.• It is a good idea to open and close valves every so often to make sure that they don't get gummed up.• My release is getting all gummed up.

Origin gum1

1. Old English goma

2. (1300-1400) Old French gomme, from Greek kommi, from Egyptian qmy.t

3. (1800-1900) God

gum1 noungum2 verb

Chinese

Corpus