- The definition of a hem is the folded and sewn border of a piece of clothing or other material.
An example of a hem is the cuff of a shirt sleeve that keeps the fabric from unraveling.
- Hem is defined as to fold and sew a piece of fabric to create a finished border.
An example of hem is making a pair of pants shorter.
A woman puts a hem on a garment.
hem
noun
- the border on a garment or piece of cloth, usually made by folding the edge and sewing it down
- any border, edge, or margin
Origin of hem
Middle English ; from Old English akin to Middle Low German ham, enclosed piece of land ; from Indo-European base an unverified form kem-, to compress, impede from source hamper
interjection
,noun
hem and haw
- to make sounds like hems, or grope about in speech, while searching for the right words to say
- to speak in a vague or evasive manner; equivocate
hem
noun
- An edge or border on a piece of cloth, especially a finished edge, as for a garment or curtain, made by folding an edge under and stitching it down.
- The height or level of the bottom edge of a skirt, dress, or coat; a hemline.
transitive verb
hemmed hemmed, hem·ming, hems- To fold back and stitch down the edge of.
- To surround and shut in; enclose: a valley hemmed in by mountains. See Synonyms at enclose.
Origin of hem
Middle English, from Old English hem, hemm.Related Forms:
- hem′mer
noun
noun
intransitive verb
hemmed hemmed, hem·ming, hems- To utter a hem.
- To hesitate in speech.
Origin of hem
From Middle English heminge, coughing, of imitative origin.hem
- Used to fill in the gap of a pause with a vocalized sound.
(plural hems)
- An utterance or sound of the voice like "hem", often indicative of hesitation or doubt, sometimes used to call attention.
(third-person singular simple present hems, present participle hemming, simple past and past participle hemmed)
- To make the sound expressed by the word hem; to hesitate in speaking.
A sound uttered in imitation of clearing the throat (onomatopoeia)
(plural hems)
(third-person singular simple present hems, present participle hemming, simple past and past participle hemmed)
- (intransitive) (in sewing) To make a hem.
- : To put hem on an article of clothing, to edge or put a border on something.
- : To surround something or someone in a confining way.
From Middle English hem, hemm, in turn from Old English hemm and related to Middle High German hemmen (“to hem in”), Old Norse hemja (“to hem in, restrain”). The Proto-Indo-European root gave rise also to Armenian քամել (kʿamel, “to press, wring”) and Russian ком (kom, “lump”).
- Obsolete form of 'em.
Old English him, heom, originally a dative plural form but in Middle English coming to serve as an accusative plural as well.
