seam
/ˈsiːm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.44 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A folded-back and stitched piece of fabric; especially, the stitching that joins two or more pieces of fabric.
noun
A suture.
noun
A thin stratum, especially of an economically viable material such as coal or mineral.
noun
The stitched equatorial seam of a cricket ball; the sideways movement of a ball when it bounces on the seam.
verb
To put together with a seam.
Example Sentences
- "Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […] Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams 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."
- "He even roused himself to go to the mines once more: […]. He sat there, crippled, in a tub, with the under-ground manager showing him the seam with a powerful torch."
- "Seams can be made or sealed in a variety of ways, including adhesive bonding, hot-air welding, solvent welding, using adhesive tapes, sealant, etc."
- "Precepts should be so finely wrought together[…]that no coarse seam may discover where they join."
- "Thus, seamed with many scars, / Bursting these prison bars, / Up to its native stars / My soul ascended!"
- "Seam'd o'er with wounds which his own sabre gave."
Etymology
From Middle English seem, seme, from Old English sēam (“seam”), from Proto-West Germanic *saum, from Proto-Germanic *saumaz (“that which is sewn”). Cognate with Dutch zoom (“hem, edge”), German Saum (“hem, edge”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål søm (“seam”), Norwegian Nynorsk saum (“seam”), Swedish söm (“seam”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
- British usage
- Obsolete
- Uncountable