seam1 (sem)

[ At Costantynoble is the Cros of our Lord Jesu Crist, and his Cote withouten Semes. Mandeville, Travels, p. 9. The coat was without seam , woven from the top throughout. John xix. 23. 2. A piece of plain sewing; that on which sewing is being or is to be done; sewing. Lady Margaret sits in her bower door, Sewing at her silken seam . Young Akin (Child's Ballads, I. 179). Gae mind your seam . Burns , To a Tailor. He asked her to put down her seam , and come for a walk. Harper's Mag., LXV. 117. 3. A line of separation, as between two strata, or two planks or the like when fastened together; also, the fi ure or gap formed by the imperfect' union of two bodies laid or fastened together: as, to calk the seams of a ship.-4. A fi ure; a cleft; a groove.-5. The ridge in a casting which marks the place where two parts of the mold have been in contact, as in a plaster cast or a molded piece of earthenware.-6. A cicatrix or scar.-7. A bed or stratum: so used especially in speaking of coal: as, a seam of coal (a bed or continuous layer of coal).8. pl. See the quotation. The rags known technically as seams , being the clip pings which fall from woolen rags under the sci ors of the sorters, who prepare them for the machine by which they are torn into "rag-wool." These pieces are cut off and withheld from the tearing machine, precisely because they have a sewing thread running along them, or portions of cotton lining adherent, or other vegetal admixture. Ure, Dict., II. 360. 9. In an at., a suture; a raphe. If any thought by flight to escape, he made his head to fly in pieces by the lambdoidal commi ure, which is a seam in the hinder part of the skull. Urquhart , tr. of Rabelais, i. 27. Bight seam ( naut. ), a seam formed by doubling over the canvas in the middle of a cloth, and stitching it down. False seam. (a) A ridge produced on castings where the mold is joined. F. Campin, Mech. Engineering, Glo ., p. 406. (b) In sail - making, a seam run in the middle of a cloth longitudinally, by overlaying a fold of the canvas on itself, so as to give the appearance of a regular seam as between two separate cloths. This is done for appearance in yacht-sails, and to make the sail stand flatter.Overhead seam. See overhead. - Round seam ( naut. ), a seam formed by sewing the edges of canvas together without lapping. This method is used in the United States with only the lightest kind of canvas. - To toe a seam, to stand on deck with the toes touching one of the seams. Such standing is imposed as a punishment for slight offenses. - White seam, underclothing in the proce of making. [Scotch.] Mi Becky was invited;... and, accordingly, with a large work-bag well stuffed with white - seam, she Mi Ferrier. Marriage, xiv. took her place at the appointed hour. seam1 (sēm), v. [= Sw. sömma = Dan. söm me; from the noun.] I. trans. 1. To join with a seam; unite by sewing.-2. In knitting, to make an apparent seam in with a certain IMG:content-0443.jpg:[graphic] IMG:content-0444.jpg:[graphic] The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: The Century dictionary seam stitch: as, to seam a stocking.-3. To mark with a seam, fi ure, or furrow; scar: as, a face seamed with wounds. It is yet a most beaut i full and sweete countrey as any is under heaven, seamed throughout with many goodly rivers. Spenser, State of Ireland. Dusky faces seamed and old. Whittier, What the Birds Said. II. in trans. 1. To crack; become fi ured or cracked. Later their lips began to parch and seam . L. Wallace , Ben-Hur, p. 400. 2. In knitting , to work in a particular manner so as to produce a seam.