hem

«hem» in Mova's school dictionary: The edge of a piece of cloth, folded over and sewn so it… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a hem, hems); verb (hem, hems, hemmed, hemming); interjection (hem, ahem)

meaning for a pupil

1) (noun) The edge of a piece of cloth, folded over and sewn so it does not fray, such as the bottom of a skirt or trousers. tree →

2) (verb) To sew a hem on something. tree →

3) (verb, hem in) To surround someone or something so they cannot move or escape. tree →

4) (interjection) «Hem!» or «Ahem!» is a little cough to get attention or show doubt. tree →

5) (in «hem and haw») To hesitate and not decide. tree →

sense in the lessons

In sewing and textiles lessons pupils hem a piece of fabric. In stories people are «hemmed in» by enemies, crowds or mountains. In Alice in Wonderland the Mouse begins his «driest» story with «Ahem!» as a small cough before speaking.

examples

• Mum took up the hem of my school trousers. tree →
• We learned to hem a napkin in textiles class. tree →
• The sheep were hemmed in by the fence. tree →
• Toad felt hemmed in by the weasels on every side. tree →
• «Ahem!» said the Mouse, with an important air. tree →
• The skirt's hem was muddy from the field. tree →
• Stop hemming and hawing and choose a flavour! tree →
• He said, “Hem! hem!” but it was of no use. tree →

note

Verb doubles the m: hemmed, hemming. «Hem in» = surround and trap. «Hem and haw» (US «hem and haw», UK more often «hum and haw») = hesitate. «Ahem» is how the throat-clearing sound is written.

In the corpora

• Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before, and laid Thy hand upon me.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «hem» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.