black gum

Definitions

1. 1

   A tree native to eastern North America, Nyssa sylvatica.

   • Sweet gums and black gums and sourwoods made the woods bright now when oaks and hickories had just begun to look dull and faded.
   • Old settlers learned from the bees and built their own beehives with two-foot sections sawn from the trunks of hollow black gums.
   • The sanctuary's other habitats include forests of black cherry, red cedar, black locust, beech, and oak, with red maples and black gums in wet areas.
2. 2

   Certain eucalyptus trees of Australia

3. 3

   Used other than figuratively or idiomatically

   Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see black, gum.

   • 2009, Tricia Telep, The Eternal Kiss, 2010, Large Print Edition, page 67, He grinned, displaying crooked teeth and black gums. Yikes.

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