Meaning

5 senses
  1. (UK, dialectal, rare, uncountable)Heed; attention.

  2. (rare, uncountable)Grime.

  3. (dialectal, rare)A bit, a small amount.

  4. (colloquial, dialectal, rare)A useless person.

  5. (India, archaic)A village.

Origin

The noun is from dialectal (Northern) English, from Middle English gome, from Old Norse ga

The noun is from dialectal (Northern) English, from Middle English gome, from Old Norse gaum, gaumr (“heed, attention”), from Proto-Germanic *gaumō (“attention”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰowe- (“to heed, pay attention”). The verb is from Middle English *gomen, from the noun. Compare native Middle English yemen, from Old English ġīeman (“to care for, heed”), and Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌿𐌼𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gaumjan, “observe”).

Unknown. Possibly related to gaum (“smear”, verb).

Probably a variant of gom (an Irish English slang term for a foolish person), but possibly related to or influenced by gorming, gawming (“clumsy, stupid”).

From Hindi [Term?].

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Forms

plural: gaums
Singulargaum

uncountable

Word family

4 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
gaum — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto