FromMiddle Englishseem,seme, fromOld Englishsēam(“seam”), fromProto-West Germanic*saum, fromProto-Germanic*saumaz(“that which is sewn”).
seam (pluralseams)
- (sewing) Afolded-back andstitched piece offabric; especially, the stitching that joins two or more pieces of fabric.
1977,Agatha Christie, chapter 4, inAn Autobiography, part II, London:Collins,→ISBN:Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […] Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicatedseams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.
- Asuture.
- (geology) A thinstratum, especially of an economically viable material such ascoal ormineral.
- (cricket) The stitchedequatorial seam of acricket ball; thesidewaysmovement of a ball when itbounces on the seam.
- (construction, nautical) A joint formed by mating two separate sections of materials.
Seams can be made or sealed in a variety of ways, including adhesive bonding, hot-air welding, solvent welding, using adhesive tapes, sealant, etc.
- A line or depression left by a cut or wound; ascar; acicatrix.
- (figurative) A line of junction; a joint.
1697,Joseph Addison,Essay on Virgil's Georgics:Precepts should be so finely wrought together[…]that no coarseseam may discover where they join.
folded back and stitched piece of fabric
stitched seam of a cricket ball
a joint formed by mating two separate sections of a material
a line or depression left by a cut or wound
Translations to be checked
From the nounseam.
seam (third-person singular simple presentseams,present participleseaming,simple past and past participleseamed)
- To put together with a seam.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,The Skeleton in Armor:
- Thus,seamed with many scars, / Bursting these prison bars, / Up to its native stars / My soul ascended!
- To make the appearance of a seam in, as in knitting a stocking; hence, to knit with a certain stitch, like that in such knitting.
- To mark with a seam or line; toscar.
- To crack open along a seam.
1880,Lew Wallace,Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ:Later their lips began to parch andseam.
- (cricket) Of the ball, to move sideways after bouncing on the seam.
- (cricket) Of a bowler, to make the ball move thus.
FromOld Englishsēam(“a burden”), fromLatinsagma(“saddle”).
seam (pluralseams)
- (historical) An old Englishmeasure ofgrain, containing eightbushels.
- (historical) An old English measure ofglass, containing twenty-fourweys of fivepounds, or 120 pounds.
1952,L. F. Salzman,Building in England, page175:As white glass was 6s. the 'seam', containing 24 'weys' (pise, or pondera) of 5 lb., and 2½ lb. was reckoned sufficient to make one foot of glazing, the cost of glass would be 1½d. leaving 2½d. for labour.
FromMiddle Englishseym(“grease”), fromOld Frenchsaim(“fat”). CompareFrenchsaindoux(“lard”).
seam (uncountable)
- (UK, dialect, obsolete)Grease;tallow;lard.
c.1602,William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:shall the proud lord
That bastes his arrogance with his ownseam
And never suffers matter of the world
1697,Virgil, “The Seventh Book of theÆneis”, inJohn Dryden, transl.,The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […],→OCLC:scour their rusty shields withseam
- AMEs,ASME,Ames,EMAS,MSAE,Mesa,Same,eams,mase,meas,meas.,mesa,same
Inherited fromProto-West Germanic*saum, fromProto-Germanic*saumaz.
sēam m (nominative pluralsēamas)
- seam
Stronga-stem:
seam on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
