gum n.1
1. impertinent, abusive talk, chatter; thus one who talks impertinently.
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Analecta II (1842) 333: Bradbury was hissed at the meeting [...] Not a feu Ministers enterteaned some gumm* (*Offence, umbrage). | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Peregrine Pickle (1964) 74: Pshaw! Pshaw! Brother, there’s no occasion to bowse out so much unnecessary gum. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Tuesday Club BK XII in Micklus (1995) 278: She tipd me the Gum very Cleanly, [...] The Brimston, she wheedled so beenly. | |
| Disappointment I ii: Give us none of your gum, you spawlpeen of perdition! | |
| , , | | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Gum, abusive language. Come, let us have no more of your gum. |
| Dict. Sl. and Cant. | |
| Yankey in England 34: I won’t hear none of your gum. | |
| Americans Abroad I i: Come, none of your gum. | |
| Modern Flash Dict. | |
| Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open. | |
| Widow Bedott Papers (1883) 29: Go ’long, you everlastin’ old gum. I won’t hear another word. | |
| Londres et les Anglais 315/1: gum, langage insultant. |
2. (US) a trick or deception; occas. attrib.
| ‘Moll Blowse of Saffron Hill’ in Flash Casket 98: And vhen the gallows gum I cotch’d, / And no more could stand, / She physic’d me vith pills and vash. | |
| New Purchase I 255: Now this, reader, was all gum; Sam could not read a word. | |
| College Words (rev. edn) 244: gum. A trick; a deception. | |
| Hoosier School-Master (1892) 153: You don’t come your gum games over me. |
In compounds
(UK Und.) abusive talk.
| New and Improved Flash Dict. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
(US black) conversation, talk.
| Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 105: I’m coming on hard with the gum action and the fresh water trout is jumping and nibbling. |
see separate entries.
(US) arguing.
| ‘A cock ’n’ pull story’ in Eye 16 Aug. 🌐 Their arrival in Toronto will spark the usual gum-bumping in the daily newspapers. | |
| Artefacts of the Dead [ebook] The detective was in no humour for the kind of gum-bumping that Martin specialised in. |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Newsletter (Sydney) 30 Mar. 16/1: A youthful member of the ‘Upper Ten’ [...] stepped into a dentist’s-shop in George-street not long ago [...] As there was nothing the matter with her ivories, the ‘gum digger’ desired to know the reason. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 12 Dec. 19/3: If the Maoriland gum-digging argument is not quite worn to rags, permit me to mention another method which the ‘dentist’ (a gum-digger once described himself as a dentist, and the name sticks) employs to secure the coveted ‘kapia.’. | |
 | Murrumbidgee Irrigator (Leeton, NSW) 21 June 4/3: THE KAISER’S GUM DIGGER. The German Emperor's American dentist, Dr. Newton Davis, arrived recently. | |
| Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 33: Gumdigger, a dentist. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | N.Z. 117: New Zealanders have coined or adapted many expressions to meet local requirements, as illustrated by the following: [...] gumdigger: dentist. | |
| I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 233/1: fang carpenter (gum digger, gum puncher) – dentist. | |
| Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 53/2: gumdigger/gumpuncher dentist. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988]. |
empty, boastful chatter.
| Burlington Free Press 12 June 6A: No amount of gum flapping by John Irving should obscure Act 60’s goal: equity for Vermont school children and tax payers. |
1. (US) verbal abuse.
| Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 11 June n.p.: the whip wants to know If Mr Mc came the gun game over some young gents [...] Stand back gents. |
2. kissing.
| Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 8 Feb. 6/1: VERY NAUGHTY GIRLS. They Kissy Kissy and Huggy Huggy Right in Church [...] [H]e soon became aware of the fact that the same old gum games that hud been enacted in the church were spreading among the surrounding atmosphere. |
(US) fellatio.
| (con. 1965) Times Square 11: Some had no teeth. ‘What’s the difference,’ the sergeant commented once, ‘they can give ya a gum job for two bucks.’. |
see gum-beating n.
(Aus.) a dentist.
| implied in gum-digger |
a dentist.
| Sporting Times n.p.: They were fiances, and proposed to celebrate the occurrence by having a few of her less showy molars uprooted at his expense. When the gum-smasher had got to work he found it was rather a tougher job than he had anticipated [B&L]. | |
| Sl. and Its Analogues. |
see separate entries.
1. (US) an alcoholic drink.
| Portfolio Ser. 4 I 401: Do you love your glass, every hour brings with it a fresh bumper. There [i.e. the US] you have the gum-tickler, the phlegm-cutter, the gall-breaker, the antifogmatic. | |
| Quarterly Rev. X 521: A gill, taken fasting, is called a gum-tickler [F&H]. | |
| Hermit in America on Visit to Phila. 2nd series 207: Why do we not abandon our gum-ticklers and phlegm-cutters,—our cocktails and clear-comforters [...]? | |
| Clockmaker III 147: Name your drink, my man, and let’s have a gum tickler, for old acquaintance. | |
| Hereford Jrnl 19 Apr. 4/1: He takes his gum-tickler in a filthy bar-room. | |
| New World I 300: Cold punch, gum ticklers, and neck twisters, drinks of Yankee concoction [DA]. | |
| Season Ticket 9: They ain’t no compounds here, no mint juleps [...] sherry cobblers, gum ticklers, phlegm cutters, chain lightning, or sudden death. | |
| Our Mutual Friend (1994) 659: Mr Venus [...] produced some rum. In answer to the inquiry, ‘Will you mix it, Mr Wegg?’ that gentleman pleasantly rejoined, ‘I think not, sir. On so auspicious an occasion, I prefer to take it in the form of a Gum-Tickler.’. | |
| Portsmouth Eve. News 8 Nov. 3/5: American Drinks [...] gum tickler [...] a ‘yard of flannel’, washed down with an ‘eye opener’. | |
| Belfast Morn. News 13 Sept. 4/3: The famous American ‘gum tickler’. |
2. (orig. US) a dentist.
| Sl. and Its Analogues. |
(US black) stormy weather.
| N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 13 June 16: She was out in the heavy gum. |
In phrases
see separate entry.