"gum up the works" meaning in English

See gum up the works in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: gums up the works [present, singular, third-person], gumming up the works [participle, present], gummed up the works [participle, past], gummed up the works [past]
Etymology: From gum up + the works. Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} gum up the works (third-person singular simple present gums up the works, present participle gumming up the works, simple past and past participle gummed up the works)
  1. (informal) Synonym of throw a spanner in the works Tags: informal Synonyms: throw a spanner in the works [synonym, synonym-of]
    Sense id: en-gum_up_the_works-en-verb-5~pJntkd Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "From gum up + the works.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gums up the works",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gumming up the works",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gummed up the works",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gummed up the works",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "gum up the works (third-person singular simple present gums up the works, present participle gumming up the works, simple past and past participle gummed up the works)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of throw a spanner in the works"
      ],
      "id": "en-gum_up_the_works-en-verb-5~pJntkd",
      "links": [
        [
          "throw a spanner in the works",
          "throw a spanner in the works#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Synonym of throw a spanner in the works"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "throw a spanner in the works"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "gum up the works"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "From gum up + the works.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gums up the works",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gumming up the works",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gummed up the works",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gummed up the works",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "gum up the works (third-person singular simple present gums up the works, present participle gumming up the works, simple past and past participle gummed up the works)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of throw a spanner in the works"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "throw a spanner in the works",
          "throw a spanner in the works#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Synonym of throw a spanner in the works"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "throw a spanner in the works"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "gum up the works"
}

Download raw JSONL data for gum up the works meaning in English (1.2kB)

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (c15a5ce and 5c11237). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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