gum up
Verb (transitive, phrasal verb): 1. To cause to become clogged, sticky, or non-functional: To make something stop working smoothly or correctly, often by causing its parts to stick together or become blocked with a sticky substance. This can be a literal physical clogging or a figurative disruption of a process.
The phrasal verb "gum up" is typically used to describe something that has been made to malfunction or operate inefficiently. It often implies that the problem was caused by an inappropriate or excessive substance (like gum, grease, or glue) or by poor execution that has a similar obstructive effect. * It is commonly followed by the object that is being clogged or disrupted. * It is often used in the passive voice ("get gummed up" or "is gummed up") to describe the state of the object.
- Literal Use: "If you pour that thick oil in, you'll gum up the engine's moving parts." (You will cause the parts to stick together and stop moving smoothly.)
- Figurative Use: "His constant interruptions gummed up the entire meeting." (His interruptions disrupted and ruined the flow of the meeting.)
- Passive Voice (State): "The printer won't work because the paper feed mechanism is gummed up with dust." (The mechanism is clogged and stuck due to dust.)
- "to gum up the works": This is a common idiomatic expression meaning to cause a process, system, or plan to fail or stop working.
- Example: "Introducing that last-minute rule change really gummed up the works for the project team." (It caused major disruption and problems.)
- Gum (verb): To clog or stiffen with or as if with gum. : "The old label had gummed the pages of the book together."
- Gummy (adjective): Having a sticky or glue-like consistency. : "The gummy residue was hard to clean."
- Clog: To block or become blocked.
- Jam: To become stuck or cause to become stuck.
- Foul: To make dirty or blocked, especially in a mechanical context.
- Disrupt: To interrupt and prevent something from continuing as usual (figurative synonym).
- Gum up does not have common variant phrasal verbs with different particles. Its meaning is specific to causing a clog or disruption.
- Gum up the works: As noted in Advanced Usage, this is the primary idiom, emphasizing the disruption of an entire system or process.
- stick together as if with gum
- the inside of the pipe has gummed up