sewing machine

A machine for sewing or stitching cloth, leather, . Sewing machines are of several cla es: (1) Those in which the needle is pa ed completely through the work, as in hand sewing. (2) Those making the chain-stitch, which is wrought by the crochet-hook or by an eye-pointe a needle and auxiliary hook. (3) Those making a fair stitch on one side, the upper thread being inter the lockstitch, the same on both sides. The last is woven by another thread below. Those making the latest and best. Sewing-machines have been by various modifications adapted to perform almost every variety of stitching which can be done by hand. The first sewing-machine was patented by Elias Howe, in the United States, in 1846; this was followed by the Singer machine in 1851; and since that time innumerable improvements, modifications, and additions have been made. An invention, patented in 1866, is called the Fox, after its inventor. Mr. John Fox. Besides other improvements, it aims at accomplishing a really double lock-stitch. sewing-needle, s. A needle used in sewing. sewing-pre , s . Bookbinding : The frame with stretched vertical cords, against which the backs of the folded sheets of a book are consecutively laid and sewed. sewn (ew as ō), pa. par. ora. [SEW (2), v.] sewn-up, a. Intoxicated. ( Slang.) *sew-ster (ew as ō), s. [Eng.sew (2), v.; fem. suff. -ster .] A woman wao sews; a seamstre . "At every twisted thrid my rock let fly Unto the sewster , that did sit me nigh." Ben Jonson: Sad Shepherd , ii. 3. sex, subst . [Fr. sexe , from Lat.sexum , acc us. of sex us sex, prob. lit. =a division, from seco =to cut; Sp. & Port. sexo , Ital. se o .] I. Ordinary Language : 1. The distinction between male and female: the physical difference between male and female; that property or character by which an animal is male or female. Sexual distinctions are derived from the presence and development of the characteristic generative organs of the male and female respectively. 2. Womankind, by way of emphasis. (Generally preceded by the definite article the .) "A tact which surpa ed the tact of her sex , as much as the tact of her sex surpa es the tact of ours." Macaulay : Hist . Eng ., ch. xi. 3. One of the two divisions of animals founded on the distinction of male and female. II. Botany: A distinctive peculiarity of some flower or flowers, as bearing a stamen or stamens, and therefore being analogous to the male sex in animals, or bearing a pistil or pistils, and thus being analogous to the female sex. [SEXUAL-SYSTEM.] sex-, pref. [Lat.] A prefix used to denote six or sixfold. *sex-ag-ě-cu-ple, adj . [Lat. sexagi ( es )=sixty times, and Eng. couple .] Proceeding by sixties; as, a sexagecuple ratio.