Other forms: hemming, hemmed, hems, heming, hemed
A hem is the folded and stitched bottom edge of a garment. Take up the hem, a hand-stitched hem, the hem came down.
Hemming stops the cloth fraying and gives the garment weight so it hangs properly. Taking up a hem shortens a garment and letting it down lengthens it, which is why old clothes have a line where the old hem was. Hemline is the height of the hem, and hemlines rising and falling is a whole minor branch of fashion history. Note hem in, meaning to surround and restrict.
1nounhemThe folded and stitched bottom edge of a garment.
“The hem of his trousers was muddy from the wet grass.”
2verbsurroundTo surround and restrict.
“The village is hemmed in by mountains on three sides.”
hem is a finished edge.
A sound uttered in imitative of the sound of clearing the throat (onomatopoeia)
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA