spirit gum
2
8.1
- noun
- /ˈspɪrɪt ɡʌm/
- Specialized
:
pegamento para prótesis
- I'll just give a tug on where I've done spirit gum on the lace and voila.
Examples
-
A little spirit gum and voilà!
Fiction book (2000) -
I'm covered in makeup and spirit gum.
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Looks like this ghost went a little heavy on the spirit gum.
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So I laid down some spirit gum more towards the temple and tried to press the hair down there.
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Where the hell's the spirit gum?
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The hairs on his face and hands are synthetic, Attached with spirit gum.
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Now you want to apply the spirit gum or the telesis strategically.
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This is spirit gum.
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To create a convincing character, I applied spirit gum to attach the fake mustache.
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The special effects artist carefully used spirit gum to secure the prosthetic nose to the actor's face.
Synonyms
42
1.9
A sticky substance from plants or made in factories used to join things
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun 'gum' clearly signals an adhesive, and 'spirit' can be read as alcohol/solvent, so a learner could infer an alcohol-based adhesive. However, the specific theatrical usage (for attaching wigs or prosthetics) and the specialized chemical sense of 'spirit' are not fully predictable from common B1 knowledge, so the link is only partial.
Etymology
Spirit gum comes from old stage and makeup work where the word spirit meant 'alcohol' and gum meant a sticky 'resin'; the two were mixed to make a liquid glue that could stick to the skin. So today spirit gum means the adhesive used to attach false hair or theatrical prosthetics.