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seam

Pronunciation: /ˈsiːm/

The English word “seam” has 16 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A folded-back and stitched piece of fabric; especially, the stitching that joins two or more pieces of fabric.
  2. A suture.
  3. A thin stratum, especially of an economically viable material such as coal or mineral.
  4. The stitched equatorial seam of a cricket ball; the sideways movement of a ball when it bounces on the seam.
  5. A joint formed by mating two separate sections of materials.
  6. A line or depression left by a cut or wound; a scar; a cicatrix.
  7. A line of junction; a joint.
  8. An old English measure of grain, containing eight bushels.
  9. An old English measure of glass, containing twenty-four weys of five pounds, or 120 pounds.
  10. Grease; tallow; lard.

verb

  1. To put together with a seam.
  2. 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.
  3. To mark with a seam or line; to scar.
  4. To crack open along a seam.
  5. Of the ball, to move sideways after bouncing on the seam.
  6. Of a bowler, to make the ball move thus.

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”).

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.