glom (someone or something)
1. To steal something. That guy looks suspicious—I bet he's gonna try to glom something from the store. Ethel forgot to put that expensive necklace in the safe, and one of the party guests glommed it. You glommed that lipstick? Oh my gosh, I can't believe you didn't pay for it!
2. To look at someone or something. We all glommed the rock star as he made his way through the crowd. A: "Why are you glomming me like that?" B: "Because you have blue hair!" No, I didn't glom the map because I thought I knew where I was going!
3. To arrest someone. After trying to glom these guys for months, we were finally able to bring them into the station tonight. I heard the police glommed Tom last night. The police will glom all of us if they catch us drinking—we are underage, you know.
glom on (to someone or something)
1. To stick, hold, or cling on (to someone or something). I was horrified to see that several leeches had glommed on when I got out of the lake. My four-year-old always gloms on to my arm whenever we go into a new place together. I nearly panicked when I felt something glom on to my foot. Thank goodness it was just a clump of seaweed!
2. To remain persistently or desperately in someone else's company. My annoying little brother always gloms on whenever I am hanging out with my friends. I wasn't close with them in high school, but they were the only people I knew in the university, so I decided to glom on to their group until I made some new friends. You not going to endear yourself to your new teammates if you glom on to them at every opportunity.
3. To focus one's interest or attention on (to someone or something). Mainstream news outlets have glommed on to the story of the young child raised by wolves. We all glommed on to the rock star as he made his way through the crowd. There was a bee walking along the windowsill next to me—of course I glommed on to it! Bees scare me!
4. To come to realize or understand something. It took me a while to glom on, but eventually I figured out what they were talking about. The CEO finally glommed on to the fact that Margaret had been stealing from the company. I hoped my student would glom on eventually, but she's still really struggling with polynomials.
glom onto (someone or something)
1. To cling to someone or something. I was horrified to see that several leeches had glommed onto me. My four-year-old always gloms onto my arm whenever we go into a new place together. I nearly panicked when I felt something glom on to my foot. Thank goodness it was just a clump of seaweed!
2. To remain persistently or desperately in someone else's company. My annoying little brother always gloms onto me and my friends whenever we're hanging out together. I wasn't close with them in high school, but they were the only people I knew in the university, so I decided to glom onto their group until I made some new friends of my own. You not going to endear yourself to your new teammates if you glom onto them at every opportunity.
3. To focus one's interest or attention on someone or something. Mainstream news outlets have glommed onto the story of the young child raised by wolves. We all glommed onto the rock star as he made his way through the crowd. There was a bee walking along the windowsill next to me—of course I glommed on to it! Bees scare me!
4. To come to realize or understand something. It took me a while to glom onto what they were all talking about. The CEO finally glommed onto the fact that Margaret had been stealing from the company. I hoped my student would glom onto the concept eventually, but she's still really struggling with polynomials.
glommed
slang Arrested. Dude, I hear sirens—we're gonna get glommed if we stay here any longer! I heard Tom got glommed by the police. We'll all get glommed by the cops if they catch us drinking—we are underage, you know.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.