Gum (?), n. [OE. gome, AS. gama palate; akin Co G. gaumen, OHG. goumo, guomo, Icel. gmr, Sw. gom; cf. Gr. to gape.]
The dense tissues which invest the teeth, and cover the adjacent parts of the jaws.
Gum rash Med., strophulus in a teething child; red gum. -- Gum stick, a smooth hard substance for children to bite upon while teething.
© Webster 1913.
Gum, v. t.
To deepen and enlarge the spaces between the teeth of (a worn saw). See Gummer.
© Webster 1913.
Gum, n. [OE. gomme, gumme, F. gomme, L. gummi and commis, fr. Gr. , prob. from an Egyptian form kam; cf. It. gomma.]
1.
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.
2. Bot.
See Gum tree, below.
3.
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.]
4.
A rubber overshoe.
[Local, U. S.]
Black gum, Blue gum, British gum, etc. See under Black, Blue, etc. -- Gum Acaroidea, the resinous gum of the Australian grass tree (Xanlhorrhea). -- Gum animal Zool., the galago of West Africa; -- so called because it feeds on gums. See Galago. -- Gum animi or anim'e. See Anim'e. -- 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, Elastic gum. 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 (Amygdalaceae, Cactaceae, 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. Adansonia) growing in the Senegal country, West Africa. -- Gum tragacanth. See Tragacanth. -- Gum tree, the name given to several trees in America and Australia: (a) The black gum (Nyssa multiflora), one of the largest trees of the Southern States, bearing a small blue fruit, the favorite food of the opossum. Most of the large trees become hollow. (b) A tree of the genus Eucalyptus. See Eucalpytus. (c) The sweet gum tree of the United States (Liquidambar styraciflua), a large and beautiful tree with pointedly lobed leaves and woody burlike fruit. It exudes an aromatic terebinthine juice. -- 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.
© Webster 1913.
Gum, v. t. [imp. &. 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 likke a gummed velvet.Shak.
© Webster 1913.
Gum, v. i.
To exude or from gum; to become gummy.
© Webster 1913.