piece of gum
9
1.0
- noun
- /piːs əv ɡʌm/
:
chicle
- Then she popped a piece of gum into her mouth.
- chew a piece of gum
- pop a piece of gum
- piece of gum in my mouth
I really really want a piece of gum but I know I can't.
- I really really want a piece of gum but I know I can't.
- Ron, this is literally my last piece of gum.
Examples
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I took a piece of gum from the bowl on the table.
-
Judge Allen grabs it, takes a piece of gum, and hands it to the bailiff.
Fiction book (1993) -
I want you to pick a piece of gum, any color...
-
Then I gave her a piece of gum.
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You want a piece of gum instead?
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You want a piece of gum?
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I need a piece of gum.
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Would you like a piece of gum?
-
Do you have a piece of gum?
Fiction book (1997) -
Here, have a piece of gum.
Fiction book (1997)
Synonyms
271
1.0
A sweet, flavored piece you chew to freshen breath or for fun
25
1.0
A sweet piece you chew to freshen your breath but do not swallow
14
1.0
A sweet chewing gum that you can blow into bubbles
1
1.4
A small round piece of chewing gum with a hard colored sugar coating often sold in vending machines
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a small portion of chewing gum' is directly and compositionally derived from 'piece' (a portion) + 'of' (partitive/linking) + 'gum' (chewing substance). This is a common, cross-linguistically regular noun phrase pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily understand it.
Etymology
The phrase piece of gum comes from the old way chewing gum was sold in small chunks you could break off. People would take one piece of gum to chew, so the phrase means 'a small unit of gum'.