meaning of gum
1. The concrete juice (gum resin) of an umbelliferous plant, the Dorema ammoniacum. It is brought chiefly from Persia in the form of yellowish tears, which occur singly, or are aggregated into masses. It has a peculiar smell, and a nauseous, sweet taste, followed by a bitter one. It is inflammable, partially soluble in water and in spirit of wine, and is used in medicine as an expectorant and resolvent, and for the formation of certain plasters.
2. The dense tissues which invest the teeth, and cover the adjacent parts of the jaws.
3. To deepen and enlarge the spaces between the teeth of (a worn saw). See Gummer.
4. 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.
5. See Gum tree, below.
6. 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.
7. A rubber overshoe.
8. 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.
9. To exude or from gum; to become gummy.
10. the tissue covered by mucous membrane of the jaws that surrounds the bases of the teeth
Related Words
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