Library / English Dictionary

SEAM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Joint consisting of a line formed by joining two pieces

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("seam" is a kind of...):

joint (junction by which parts or objects are joined together)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "seam"):

fell; felled seam (seam made by turning under or folding together and stitching the seamed materials to avoid rough edges)

surgical seam; suture (a seam used in surgery)

welt (a raised or strengthened seam)

Derivation:

seam (put together with a seam)

seamster (a person whose occupation is making and altering garments)

seamy (showing a seam)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A stratum of ore or coal thick enough to be mined with profit

Example:

he worked in the coal beds

Synonyms:

bed; seam

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("seam" is a kind of...):

stratum (one of several parallel layers of material arranged one on top of another (such as a layer of tissue or cells in an organism or a layer of sedimentary rock))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "seam"):

coal seam (a seam of coal)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A slight depression or fold in the smoothness of a surface

Example:

ironing gets rid of most wrinkles

Synonyms:

crease; crinkle; furrow; line; seam; wrinkle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("seam" is a kind of...):

depression; impression; imprint (a concavity in a surface produced by pressing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "seam"):

crow's feet; crow's foot; laugh line (a wrinkle in the skin at the outer corner of your eyes)

dermatoglyphic (the lines that form patterns on the skin (especially on the fingertips and the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet))

frown line (a facial wrinkle associated with frowning)

life line; lifeline; line of life (a crease on the palm; its length is said by palmists to indicate how long you will live)

heart line; line of heart; love line; mensal line (a crease on the palm; palmists say it indicates your emotional nature)

line of destiny; line of fate; line of Saturn (a crease on the palm; palmists say it indicates how successful you will be)

Holonyms ("seam" is a part of...):

cutis; skin; tegument (a natural protective body covering and site of the sense of touch)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Put together with a seam

Example:

seam a dress

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "seam" is one way to...):

join (cause to become joined or linked)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "seam"):

suture (join with a suture)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

seam (joint consisting of a line formed by joining two pieces)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The heavy, white face was seamed with lines of trouble, the hanging pouches under the closed eyes were leaden in colour, the loose mouth drooped dolorously at the corners, the rolling chins were unshaven.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was an old scar—I should rather call it seam, for it was not discoloured, and had healed years ago—which had once cut through her mouth, downward towards the chin, but was now barely visible across the table, except above and on her upper lip, the shape of which it had altered.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The huge body, the craggy and deeply seamed face with the fierce eyes and hawk-like nose, the grizzled hair which nearly brushed our cottage ceiling, the beard—golden at the fringes and white near the lips, save for the nicotine stain from his perpetual cigar—all these were as well known in London as in Africa, and could only be associated with the tremendous personality of Dr. Leon Sterndale, the great lion-hunter and explorer.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I know them with their puttied seams and their devil bolts, risking five hundred lives that they may steal a few pounds’ worth of copper.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They adopted Jo's plan of dividing the long seams into four parts, and calling the quarters Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, and in that way got on capitally, especially when they talked about the different countries as they stitched their way through them.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

To his right walked a huge red-headed man, with broad smile and merry twinkle, whose clothes seemed to be bursting and splitting at every seam, as though he were some lusty chick who was breaking bravely from his shell.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Not knowing what better to do, he came into the plan, and learnt tailoring from the beginning; and when he left his master, he gave him a needle, and said, You can sew anything with this, be it as soft as an egg or as hard as steel; and the joint will be so fine that no seam will be seen.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I saw a red wet seam gape suddenly through the black hair, and next instant we were flying alone down the road, whilst the four-in-hand had halted, and Sir John and his lady were down in the road together tending to the wounded horse.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

That he had been handsome might be easily judged from his high aquiline nose and clear-cut chin; but his features had been so distorted by the seams and scars of old wounds, and by the loss of one eye which had been torn from the socket, that there was little left to remind one of the dashing young knight who had been fifty years ago the fairest as well as the boldest of the English chivalry.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The measuring was a most solemn and serious function, though it was nothing to the trying-on two days later, when my uncle stood by in an agony of apprehension as each garment was adjusted, he and Weston arguing over every seam and lapel and skirt until I was dizzy with turning round in front of them.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)