Gum /(?)/
Gum
n.
- The dense tissues which invest the teeth, and cover the adjacent parts of the jaws.
Phrases & Compounds
- Gum rash
- strophulus in a teething child; red gum.
- Gum stick
- a smooth hard substance for children to bite upon while teething.
Gum
v. t.
- To deepen and enlarge the spaces between the teeth of (a worn saw). See Gummer.
Gum
n.
- 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.
- See Gum tree, below. (Bot.)
- 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.]
- A rubber overshoe. [Local, U. S.]
Phrases & Compounds
- Black gum
- See under Black, Blue, etc.
- Gum Acaroidea
- the resinous gum of the Australian grass tree (Xanlhorrhœa).
- Gum animal
- the galago of West Africa; -- so called because it feeds on gums. See Galago.
- Gum animi or animé
- See Animé.
- 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
- 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 (Amygdalaceæ, Cactaceæ, 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.
Gum
v. t.
imp. & p. p. Gummed; p. pr. & vb. n. Gumming
-
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.
- To chew with the gums, rather than with the teeth.
Phrases & Compounds
- gum up
- To block or clog (a conduit) with or as if with gum; as, to gum up the drainpipe.
Gum
v. i.
- To exude or form gum; to become gummy.