glue

—gluelike, adj. —gluer, n.

/glooh/, n., v., glued, gluing.

n.

1. a hard, impure, protein gelatin, obtained by boiling skins, hoofs, and other animal substances in water, that when melted or diluted is a strong adhesive.

2. any of various solutions or preparations of this substance, used as an adhesive.

3. any of various other solutions or preparations that can be used as adhesives.

v.t.

4. to join or fasten with glue.

5. to cover or smear (something) with glue (sometimes fol. by up).

6. to fix or attach firmly with or as if with glue; make adhere closely: to glue a model ship together.

[1300-50; (n.) ME glu, gleu < OF glu < L glut- (s. of glus); c. Gk gloiós gum, anything sticky; (v.) ME glywen, glewen, deriv. of the n.]

Syn. 4. paste, gum, stick, cement, plaster.

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Adhesive substance resembling gelatin, extracted from animal tissue, particularly hides and bones, or from fish, casein (milk protein), or vegetables.

Glue was used as early as 3000 BC in wooden-furniture construction in Egypt. Synthetic resin adhesives such as the epoxies are replacing glue for many uses, but glue is still widely used as an adhesive in woodworking and in certain manufacturing and other industrial processes.

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▪ adhesive

      gelatin-like adhesive substance extracted from animal tissue, particularly hides and bones, or from fish, casein (milk solids), or vegetables. Glue was used as early as 3000 BC in wooden furniture construction in Egypt.

      Synthetic resin adhesives such as the epoxies are replacing glue for many uses, but glue is still widely used as an adhesive in woodworking, in the manufacture of such abrasives as sandpaper, and as a colloid in industrial processes; e.g., the recovery of solid particles suspended in a liquid.

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