noun
- 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.
- any of various solutions or preparations of this substance, used as an adhesive.
- any of various other solutions or preparations that can be used as adhesives.
verb (used with object), glued, glu·ing.
- to join or fasten with glue.
- to cover or smear (something) with glue (sometimes followed by up).
- to fix or attach firmly with or as if with glue; make adhere closely: to glue a model ship together.
noun
- any natural or synthetic adhesive, esp a sticky gelatinous substance prepared by boiling animal products such as bones, skin, and horns
- any other sticky or adhesive substance
verb glues, gluing, glueing or glued
- (tr) to join or stick together with or as if with glue
late 14c., from Old French gluer, from glu (see glue (n.)). Related: Glued; gluing.
early 13c., from Old French glu “birdlime” (12c.), from Late Latin glutem (nominative glus) “glue,” from Latin gluten “glue, beeswax,” from PIE *gleit- “to glue, paste” (cf. Lithuanian glitus “sticky,” glitas “mucus;” Old English cliða “plaster”), from root *glei- “to stick together” (see clay). In reference to glue from boiled animal hoofs and hides, c.1400. Glue-sniffing attested from 1963.