glue

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) A hard gelatin made by boiling bones and hides, used in solution as an adhesive; or any sticky adhesive substance.
2. (countable, figuratively, uncountable) Anything that binds two things or people together.
3. (countable, uncountable) A viscid secretion on the surface of certain plants.

Verb

1. (transitive) To join or attach something using glue.
2. (figuratively, transitive) To cause something to adhere closely to; to cause to follow attentively.
3. (intransitive) To apply glue.

Synonyms

paste

stick

gum

adhesive

mucilage

cement

affix

stick together

attach

resin

size

starch

adhere

plaster

stick on

sticky

bond

fix

join

sap

cleave

intrude

pitch

rubber

pasty

pin

pin up

placard

🪧

pollen

post

post up

scar

scotch tape

shea

shellac

shinbone

sizing

splice

stamp

sticking

tame

veneer

sew on

glue-water

paste-like

adhesive agent

adhesive material

liquid cement

cemedin

gum water

Translations

colle

coller

Klebstoff

Leim

cola

colla

kleben

lijm

pegar

incollare

pegamento

colar

leimen

cola

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɡluː/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: glew

In summary

From Middle English glew, glue, from Old French glu (“glue, birdlime”), from Late Latin glūs (stem glūt-), from Latin glūten. Related to clay.
Partially displaced native Old English līm (“glue”) and ġelīman (“to glue”) (whence modern lime).