1. To grab, as in stealing. "Glom them hoops (rings) as soon as we crash this gullion-joint (jewelry store)." 2. To arrest. "Chet was glommed dead bang (red-handed) for a knock-off (murder)." 3. To seize. "Glom that creep (low fellow) and make him get it up (pay his obligation)." 4. To get a look at; to see. "Did you glom the size of the mahoska (revolver) that dick (detective) had? What a smoke-wagon (shooting iron)!"

- american underworld dictionary - 1950
Said Ms. Magazine article about glomming is a greatly exaggerated view of undergraduate life by a disgruntled grad student who has since transferred to another university. I suspect the previous cut-and-paste writeup was also written by someone unfamiliar with Caltech undergrauate life.

That is not to say glomming does not happen. Combine high concentrations of socially clueless teenaged males, a 2:1 male:female ratio, and an environment where students homework, do problem sets and crash in close proximity 24/7, and there are bound to be those who either knowingly or unknowingly become obnoxious annoyances. However, it is more an unfortunate side-effect of the ratio and the types of students that go to a tech school than the pervasive element of student life that Ms. Magazine makes it out to be. One common definition of glomming is "unwanted attention."

Further Reading
http://www.msmagazine.com/aug01/college3.html
http://goobnet.caltech.edu/whine/20010805.html
http://robinsworld.editthispage.com/2001/08/03

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