EM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does em mean? 

• EM (noun)
  The noun EM has 2 senses:

1. a quad with a square body

2. a linear unit (1/6 inch) used in printing

  Familiarity information: EM used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A quad with a square body

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

em; em quad; mutton quad

Context example:

since 'em quad' is hard to distinguish from 'en quad', printers sometimes called it a 'mutton quad'

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

area unit; square measure (a system of units used to measure areas)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A linear unit (1/6 inch) used in printing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

em; pica; pica em

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

linear measure; linear unit (a unit of measurement of length)

Meronyms (parts of "em"):

point (a linear unit used to measure the size of type; approximately 1/72 inch)

en; nut (half the width of an em)

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

in; inch (a unit of length equal to one twelfth of a foot)

 Context examples 

Nearly two of 'em are over, and she has been as good a girl as ever was. Worth any six! Minnie, is she worth any six, now?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“Double quick, my lads. We must head 'em off the boats.”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Show me a man who can hit ’em and hold ’em on a Yorkshire dale-side, and that’s the man who comes from the right school.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I can't get along without 'em, and you've got to get along without 'em when you're hoboin'.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

"Nothin'," came the answer; "only there's seven of 'em again. I just counted."

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Then we shall see whether we can't get back to their town and hit 'em where it hurts most.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Every soul of 'em is upstairs a worshipin'.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“How fast is she ebbin’? What’s the drift, eh? Listen to that, will you? A bell-buoy, and we’re a-top of it! See ’em alterin’ the course!”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The crew are his, body and soul. He could buy ’em at so much a gross with a cash discount, and he did it before ever they signed on.

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

My grand-daughter doesn't like to be kept waitin' when the tea is ready, for it takes me time to crammle aboon the grees, for there be a many of 'em; an', miss, I lack belly-timber sairly by the clock.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)