What does "hem" mean?
Hem: The edge or border of a garment or cloth, doubled over and sewed, to strengthen raveling.
Additional senses
- 2.Border; edge; margin. "Hem of the sea." Shak.
- 3.A border made on sheet-metal ware by doubling over the edge of the sheet, to stiffen it and remove the sharp edge.
- 4.To form a hem or border to; to fold and sew down the edge of. Wordsworth.
- 5.To border; to edge All the skirt about Was hemmed with golden fringe. Spenser. To hem about, around, or in, to inclose and confine; to surround; to environ. "With valiant squadrons round about to hem." Fairfax. "Hemmed in to be a spoil to tyranny." Daniel. -- To hem out, to shut out. "You can not hem me out of London." J. Webster.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00