▪ I. gummy, a.1
(ˈgʌmɪ)
Forms: 6–7 gummie, (7 goomie, gommie), 4– gummy.
[f. gum n.2 + -y1.]
1. Of the nature of gum; gum-like, sticky, viscid.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. lxxviii. (1495) 651 The beste kynde of gutta..semyth yf it be broke shynynge wythin and gummy. a 1520 Skelton E. Rummyng 25 Her lewde lyppes twayne They slauer, men sayne, Lyke a ropye rayne, A gummy glayre. 1575 Turberv. Faulconrie 275 The gummie fatte of a fygge. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 313 Of this gummie and glutinous substance they frame also their dores and entries which are wide and large. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. i. 51 Gummy resinous bodies, Masticke, Camphire, and Storax. 1649 T. Stanley Europa, etc. 29 Myrrha..darts The gummy Jewells of her weeping tree. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 168 Especially if they have a more gummy juice. 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Aloes, Aloes..fortifies the Stomach by its Gummy Substance. 1789 Trans. Soc. Arts (ed. 2) II. 116 A black gummy matter it contains. 1818 Keats Endym. i. 229 And gummy frankincense was sparkling bright 'Neath smothering parsley. 1830 Herschel Stud. Nat. Phil. iii. i. (1851) 234 Those cases of near approach to the solid state which obtain in viscid or gummy liquids. 1890 S. J. Duncan Social Departure 372 Their [mummies'] wide mouths stuffed with gummy drugs. |
2. a. Abounding in gum. † gummy thistle: the gum-thistle (see gum n.2 9 b).
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 222 This obseruance is to be kept, seith he, In chiritreen and alle that gummy be. 1589 Fleming Virg. Bucol. vii. 27 Heere is a herth and gummy wood, heer's fire good store alwaies. 1598 Florio, Euforbio, Euphorbium, or gummie thistle. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies v. viii. 350 Then set they fire vnto it, increasing it still with goomie wood. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 1076 The slant Lightning, whose thwart flame driv'n down Kindles the gummie bark of Firr or Pine. 1732 Gentl. Mag. II. 670 The gummy Pine. 1834 Aird Nebuchadnezzar iii. 32 Of gummy pine she bore a waving brand. 1869 Aldrich Story Bad Boy 62 There are..ancient turtles wandering about that gummy woodland. |
b. Of a process: Attended with the production of gum.
| 1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 543 Starting-points of the gummy disorganisation. |
3. Suffused with or exuding gum, or a gum-like substance. a. Of the eyes.
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Erraillé, which hath the eies gummie. 1693 Dryden Persius (1697) 437 The yawning Youth..Then rubs his gummy Eyes. 1720 Swift Progr. Beauty 15 Crack'd lips, foul teeth, and gummy eyes. 1759 State Paper in Ann. Reg. 252/1 His eyes..are gummy particularly his left eye. |
b. Of the buds, etc. of plants and trees.
| 1776–96 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 21 Helmet of the blossom gummy. 1833 Tennyson Poems 36, I came and lay Beneath those gummy chestnutbuds. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 197 Linos{yacu}ris vulgaris..involucre gummy. |
† c. transf. Sticky, soiled, dirty. Obs.
| 1641 Sir W. Mure Counterbuff 274 Our inlightened King..Through clear, not gommie spectacles shall see. 1720 Gay Poems (1745) II. 22 The wit..Whose gummy hat no scarlet plumes adorn. |
d. Used as a derogatory epithet of varying application.
| 1907 [see back- A. 3]. 1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. 148/2 Gummy composer, old and insipid. 1928 S. Vines Humours Unreconciled xi. 143 ‘Oh, for the wings―’ Mendelssohn is pretty gummy; how'd that do? 1936 E. M. Forster Abinger Harvest 139 He [sc. T. E. Lawrence] called the style gummy. |
4. Said esp. of the ankles and legs: As if charged with lumps of gum; puffy, swollen.
| 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 40 The great Sinew behind should be large and a good way from the Bone..otherwise he is what we call gummy in this particular Part. 1784 J. Barry in Lect. Paint. iii. (1848) 148 The legs not only want beauty, but are even gummy and ill-formed. 1797–1802 G. Colman Br. Grins, Low Ambition xx, Blear-eyed, baker-kneed, and gummy. 1819 Blackw. Mag. V. 539 No man with short, chubby, flat-soled feet, and gummy ancles, is naturally inclined to run for a wager. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. II. 21 He had grown thickset and rather gummy. 1870 M. Bridgman Ro. Lynne II. viii. 164 My ankles ain't ‘gummy’. |
5. Comb., as gummy-eyed, gummy-legged, gummy-like adjs.
| 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 172 There are some gummy-leg'd Horse very apt to the Grease and Scratches. 1849 D. Campbell Inorg. Chem. 272 The acid thrown down by ammonia, ignited, is in gummy-like masses. 1911 R. Brooke Poems 33 Oft she weeps, gummy-eyed and impotent. 1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day viii. 162 Stumbling out of the cinema, gummy-eyed from an afternoon's session with Greta Garbo. |
▪ II. gummy, a.2 Path.
(ˈgʌmɪ)
[f. gumma + -y.]
= gummatous.
| 1861 Bumstead Ven. Dis. (1879) 622 Gummy tumors of the larynx are much more common than has been supposed. 1873 T. H. Green Introd. Pathol. 234 Gummy growths frequently originate in the fibrous septa. |
▪ III. gummy, a.3
(ˈgʌmɪ)
[f. gum n.1 + -y1.]
Toothless. Hence ˈgummily adv.
| 1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands iii. 29 Sarah was a large..woman..with..a gummy smile. 1947 ‘A. P. Gaskell’ Big Game 94 An old crone came out..smiling gummily. 1970 Daily Tel. 15 July 14 So great is the demand for false teeth among our gummy tots that in many cases they may have to wait for a year or so before being fitted up. |
▪ IV. gummy, n.1
(ˈgʌmɪ)
[f. gum n.1 + -y6.]
1. The Australian name for Mustelus antarcticus, a small shark found in the Pacific Ocean. In full gummy shark.
| 1893 Funk's Stand. Dict., Gummy, a galeoid shark. 1898 Morris Austral Eng. 185/2 Gummy, name given to a shark of Victorian and Tasmanian waters, Mustelus antarcticus Günth., and called Hound..in New South Wales, Victoria and New Zealand. The word Gummy is said to come from the small numerous teeth, arranged like a pavement, so different from the sharp erect teeth of most other sharks. 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 31 May 17/1 All sharks are said to be excellent eating, but the usual variety retailed as snapper or Murray cod are the small crustacean-eaters known as ‘gummies’ in the trade. 1963 D. G. Stead Sharks & Rays Austral. Seas x. 108 The name of Gummy is applied to it because of the rhombic, pavement-like teeth, which, at a passing glance into the fish's mouth, give the impression of toothless gums. 1965 G. McInnes Road to Gundagai iii. 47 All we caught was a gummy shark. |
2. A sheep that has lost, or is losing, its teeth. Austral. and N.Z.
| 1910 H. Jackson in Golden Fleece 92, I have seen scores of ewes, not ‘gummies’ either, cutting fleeces of pocket handkerchief dimensions. 1933 L. G. D. Acland in Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 21 Oct. 15/7 Gummy, an old sheep that has lost its teeth. 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 6 Sept. 24/1 One young breeding ewe is worth three old ‘gummies’. 1965 J. S. Gunn Terminol. Shearing Indust. i. 27 When the sheep's teeth are beginning to decline it is called a ‘faulty mouth’ or ‘failing mouth’. This is the stage before ‘broken mouth’, after which it becomes a ‘gummy’. |
▪ V. gummy, n.2 N.Z. colloq.
(ˈgʌmɪ)
[f. gum n.2 1 h + -y6.]
A gum-digger.
| 1906 Macm. Mag. Apr. 476 We soon were giving those gummies a hand to get some tucker ready. |