Dictionary

gaumy en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• [ˈɡɔː.mi]

Etymology

From gaum + -y, from gaum (“to smear”), which see for more.

Meanings

1. (UK, US, dialectal) Sticky; smeared with something sticky.
   • The narrow, dark stairs are gaumy with paste, and everywhere open barrels of the mixture gave out the sickening, sour odor that is always in the nostrils of the workers. 1914, Edwin Markham, Children in Bondage: A Complete and Careful Presentation:
   • And Fothergil Finch, rather gaumy With Cosmic cosmetics, was there, But the Swami went just as the Swami, After oiling the kinks in his hair. I said to Hermione: "Goddess! You're graceful, you're Greek, you're a rose, […]" 1916, Don Marquis, Hermione and Her Little Group of Serious Thinkers, page 164:
   • Far from being gaumy with pitch, they looked rather remarkably smooth and well manicured. 1946, Jessie Scott, The Charity Ball, page 259:

Forms