gum up the works

to prevent a machine or system from operating correctly The project was going really well until that software upgrade gummed up the works.

Related vocabulary: gum up something

gum up the works

to prevent a machine or system from operating correctly In bad weather, twice as many people use their cars on the road, which really gums up the works.

See be up a gum tree

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Gaetano	-	Italian
Judit	YOO-deet (Hungarian)	Hungarian, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Rokuro	ṙo-koo-ṙo:	Japanese
Bhavna	-	Indian, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam
Badulf	-	Ancient Germanic
Kalysta	kə-LIS-tə	English (Rare)