Library / English Dictionary

SEW

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: sewn   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fasten by sewing; do needlework

Synonyms:

run up; sew; sew together; stitch

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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

fasten; fix; secure (cause to be firmly attached)

"Sew" entails doing...:

conjoin; join (make contact or come together)

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

hem (fold over and sew together to provide with a hem)

resew (sew again)

overcast (sew with an overcast stitch from one section to the next)

overcast (sew over the edge of with long slanting wide stitches)

backstitch (do backstitches)

gather; pucker; tuck (draw together into folds or puckers)

finedraw (sew together very finely)

fell (sew a seam by folding the edges)

baste; tack (sew together loosely, with large stitches)

hemstitch (sew with hemstitches)

retick; tick (sew)

cast on (make the first row of stitches when knitting)

cast off (make the last row of stitches when knitting)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

sewer (someone who sews)

sewing (joining or attaching by stitches)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Create (clothes) with cloth

Example:

Can the seamstress sew me a suit by next week?

Synonyms:

sew; tailor; tailor-make

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

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

fashion; forge (make out of components (often in an improvising manner))

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

run up (make by sewing together quickly)

quilt (create by stitching together)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They sew the cape

Derivation:

sewer (someone who sews)

sewing (needlework on which you are working with needle and thread)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A whisper of the gold-rush had reached his ears, and he had come with several bales of furs, and another of gut-sewn mittens and moccasins.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The bundle was sewn together, and the doctor had to get out his instrument case and cut the stitches with his medical scissors.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

And thou shalt hunt meat for me and Old Kinoos, and I shall cook thy food, and sew thee warm parkas and strong, and make thee moccasins after the way of my people, which is a better way than thy people's way.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

If you travel with your romantic partner/spouse, the trip you take in the last week of March (from March 24 onward) will create a tapestry sewn with golden threads that you will remember forever.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Nobody even really knows if Plato meant for his writings to be taken as documentation of the existence of the city or if he was just sewing a yarn to serve as a warning against the dangers of excess, but that hasn’t stopped plenty of people from searching for Atlantis.

(Researchers Claim to Have Found Mythical City of Atlantis in Spain, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Six hundred beds of the common measure were brought in carriages, and worked up in my house; a hundred and fifty of their beds, sewn together, made up the breadth and length; and these were four double: which, however, kept me but very indifferently from the hardness of the floor, that was of smooth stone.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

It was uninteresting sewing, but tonight no one grumbled.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It took three days to sew all the strips together, but when it was finished they had a big bag of green silk more than twenty feet long.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

One summer’s morning a little tailor was sitting on his table by the window; he was in good spirits, and sewed with all his might.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Wolf Larsen and I, between us, cut off Kerfoot’s crushed finger and sewed up the stump.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)