ˈgum-tree
[f. gum n.2 + tree.]
1. Any tree that exudes gum: spec. a. Any tree of the genus eucalyptus; b. Various species of the N. American genus Nyssa; c. Sweet gum tree of the U.S., Liquidambar styraciflua.
| 1676 T. Glover in Phil. Trans. XI. 628 There is likewise black Walnut,..Dogwood,..Gum-tree,..with several others. 1756 P. Browne Jamaica 338 The Gum Tree..yields a great quantity of resin,..which serves for the boiling house lamps. 1798 Malthus Popul. (1878) 14 Found in the body of the dwarf gum-tree. 1846 J. L. Stokes Discov. Australia II. iii. 108 The silvery stems of the never-failing gum-trees. 1870 Wilson Austral. Songs 140 The gum-trees ghastly shadows downward threw. |
| attrib. 1852 G. C. Mundy Our Antipodes (1857) 4 The leaden tint of the gum-tree foliage. |
2. Phrases.
to be up a gum-tree: to be in great difficulties.
Cf. tree n. 'possum up a gum-tree: the title of a song or dance. (
Austral.)
he has seen his last gum-tree = it is all up with him.
| 1829 in Amer. Speech (1965) XL. 131 Dere's possum up de gum tree. 1837 Thackeray Ravenswing vii, 'Possum up a gum-tree, eh? 1840 Haliburton Clockm. Ser. iii. xxi, Many's the time I have danced ‘Possum up a gum tree’ at a quiltin' frolic or huskin' party. 1926 D. L. Sayers Clouds of Witness iii. 86 S'long as they're in his trousers pocket you're up a gum-tree. 1927 Daily Express 15 July 1/4 Captain Lancaster cannot obtain any information, and, as he says, he is ‘up a gum tree’. 1959 Encounter Nov. 60/2 Until somebody solves the problem of an English idiom we're going to be up a gum-tree. |
Hence
ˈgum-treed a., grown with gum-trees.
| 1883 P. Robinson Sinners & Saints 309 Modesta, a queer, wide-streeted, gum-treed place. |