Having the sticky, viscous, or adhesive quality of glue; covered with or resembling glue.
From 'glue' plus the adjectival suffix '-y,' a common Old English pattern for creating adjectives from nouns (like 'water' becomes 'watery').
The '-y' suffix is so productive that we instantly understand 'gluey,' 'sticky,' 'slimy,' 'goopy'—our brains recognize it as meaning 'having the quality of,' which is why made-up words like 'gravelly' or 'papery' feel natural immediately.
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