gaumy

English

Alternative forms

  • gormy (US dialects, especially Southern US)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈɡɔː.mi]

Adjective

gaumy (comparative more gaumy, superlative most gaumy)

  1. (US and Britain, dialectal) Sticky; smeared with something sticky.
    • 1914, Edwin Markham, Children in Bondage: A Complete and Careful Presentation:
      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.
    • 1916, Don Marquis, Hermione and Her Little Group of Serious Thinkers, page 164:
      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, [] "
    • 1946, Jessie Scott, The Charity Ball, page 259:
      Far from being gaumy with pitch, they looked rather remarkably smooth and well manicured.
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