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It's a classic case of glomming: Americans seized on glaum (a term from Scots dialect that basically means “to grab”) and appropriated it as their own, changing it to glom in the process. Glom first meant “to steal” (as in the purse-snatching, robber kind of stealing), but over time that meaning got stretched to include figurative uses. Today the term is most familiar in the phrase “glom on to,” or “glom onto,” which can mean “to appropriate for one's own use,” as in “glomming on to another's idea”; “to grab hold of,” as in “glommed onto the last cookie”; “to latch on to,” as in “glom on to an opinion” or “glom onto an influential friend”; or “to become aware of,” as in “glomming onto the potential of this new technology.”
Examples of glom in a Sentence
Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 4 Mar. 2025
The way that Pliny saw it, astrology was small-minded fatalism, in which people glommed onto meaningless symbols for a sense of identity.
—Maya Layne, Vogue, 14 Feb. 2025
Then a nameless local 12-year-old arrives (the arresting Jade Croot), glomming onto their vibe, and the movie tips deliriously toward something pushy and tension-filled.
—Matt Brennan, Los Angeles Times, 25 Jan. 2025
Investors may even glom on to company-specific news, like the rollout of a new product or brand or the hiring of a visionary executive.
—Ryan Ermey, CNBC, 13 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for glom
Cite this Entry
“Glom.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glom. Accessed 18 Apr. 2025.
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