sewing

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noun

the act or work of one who sews.

something sewn or to be sewn.

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English; see sew¹, -ing¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged

verb (used with object)

to join or attach by stitches.

to make, repair, etc., (a garment) by such means.

to enclose or secure with stitches: to sew flour in a bag.

to close (a hole, wound, etc.) by means of stitches (usually followed by up ).

verb (used without object)

to work with a needle and thread or with a sewing machine.

Verb phrases

sew up,

Informal. to get or have a monopoly of; control exclusively.

Informal. to complete or conclude (arrangements, negotiations, etc.) successfully: They were about to sew up the deal when the argument started.

to gain or be assured of: He tried to sew up as many votes as possible before the convention.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English sewen, Old English siw(i)an; cognate with Old High German siuwan, Gothic siujan, Latin suere (see suture); akin to seam

Related forms

sew·a·ble, adjective, noun

00:10

Sewing is always a great word to know.

So is zedonk. Does it mean:

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

verb (used with object)

to ground (a vessel) at low tide (sometimes fol by up ).

verb (used without object)

(of a vessel) to be grounded at low tide.

noun

the amount of additional water necessary to float a grounded vessel.

Origin:
1505–15; < Middle French sewer, aphetic variant of essewer < Vulgar Latin *exaquāre, equivalent to Latin ex- ex-¹ + aqu(a) water + -āre infinitive suffix

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To sewing

Collins

World English Dictionary

sew (səʊ)

—vb , sews, sewing, sewed, sewn, sewed
1.	to join or decorate (pieces of fabric, etc) by means of a thread repeatedly passed through with a needle or similar implement
2.	(tr; often foll by on or up) to attach, fasten, or close by sewing
3.	(tr) to make (a garment, etc) by sewing

[Old English sēowan; related to Old Norse sӯja, Gothic siujan, Old High German siuwen, Latin suere to sew, Sanskrit sīvjati he sews]

sewing (ˈsəʊɪŋ)

—n
	a. a piece of cloth, etc, that is sewn or to be sewn
	b. (as modifier): sewing basket

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

sew

O.E. siwian "to stitch," earlier siowian, from P.Gmc. *siwjanan (cf. O.N. syja, Swed. sy, O.H.G. siuwan, Goth. siujan "to sew"), from PIE base *siw-/*sju- "to sew" (cf. Skt. sivyati "sews," sutram "thread, string;" Gk. hymen "thin skin, membrane," hymnos "song;" L. suere "to sew, sew together;" O.C.S.

sijo "to sew," sivu "seam;" Lett. siuviu, siuti "to sew," siuvikis "tailor;" Rus. svec "tailor"). Sewing machine is attested from 1847.

Example sentences

In the hierarchy of jobs in poor countries, sweltering at a sewing machine isn't the bottom.

She snipped the knotted line with her sewing shears and they began to unwrap the newspaper.

Orderly chaos reigns on the factory floor, a blur of flying hands and whirring sewing machines.

One entrepreneur tried to swap his sewing machines for handsets.

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overcasting overstitch reel sewing cotton sewing silk sewing table

Matching Quote

"The learned professors have been at considerable pains in their attempts to make a distinction between tools and implements on the one hand, and machinery on the other. Nor have they arrived much of anywhere. The one is continually shading into the other. Here is an ordinary shovel used by a day labourer in a ditch; here is the same shovel with a somewhat thicker handle, containing a pneumatic attachment which is said to improve its digging power; here is a very much larger shovel with curved ends and steel teeth, hitched to an arm that is hitched to a steam engine, which can gobble up a cartload of dirt at one mouthful. Where does the tool stop and the machine begin? A grindstone is widely held to be a primitive tool; a turret lathe is widely held to be a machine. Both spin around. What is the essential difference? The employment of nonhuman power, steam, oil, gas, has been defined as the difference. Well and good. Then everything worked by human hands and legs is a tool only, and bicycles, typewriters, adding machines, sewing machines, foot lathes, clocks, hand-pumps—are not machines. Which is absurd. And what is one to do with treadmills for grinding corn, whose motive power is said by some to be the donkey, and by some the carrot in front of his nose?"

-Stuart Chase

sewing

sew·ing

sew

sew