gumming up
Making things sticky
Gumming up means clogging or fouling a mechanism with sticky residue, or more broadly, disrupting smooth operation: Old grease was gumming up the gears.
Figuratively, it describes anything that slows or obstructs a process: Bureaucratic delays kept gumming up the project.
The phrase gum up the works means to cause a system to malfunction or stall.
- cloggingObstructing a passage
- hinderingCreating obstacles to progress
- stallingIntentional delay tactics
- seizingTaking forcible possession
- jammingBlocking or wedging forcefully
grinding to a halt · delaying · sabotaging · sand in the gears · bottlenecking · snagging · sticking · derailing · choking · gunking · interrupting · plugging · blocking · fouling · halting · impeding · obstructing · tangling
gumming uplubricating
Applying friction-reducing substance
oiling · greasing · smoothing · freeing up · loosening
gumming upfacilitating
Making something simpler
streamlining · expediting · greasing the wheels · unblocking · freeing up
gumming upclearing
Treeless space in forest
cleaning out · unclogging · flushing out · purging · clearing out