SEAM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does seam mean? 

• SEAM (noun)
  The noun SEAM has 3 senses:

1. joint consisting of a line formed by joining two pieces

2. a slight depression or fold in the smoothness of a surface

3. a stratum of ore or coal thick enough to be mined with profit

  Familiarity information: SEAM used as a noun is uncommon.

• SEAM (verb)
  The verb SEAM has 1 sense:

1. put together with a seam

  Familiarity information: SEAM used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SEAM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Joint consisting of a line formed by joining two pieces

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

joint (junction by which parts or objects are joined together)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "seam"):

fell; felled seam (seam made by turning under or folding together and stitching the seamed materials to avoid rough edges)

surgical seam; suture (a seam used in surgery)

welt (a raised or strengthened seam)

Derivation:

seam (put together with a seam)

seamster (a person whose occupation is making and altering garments)

seamy (showing a seam)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A slight depression or fold in the smoothness of a surface

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

crease; crinkle; furrow; line; seam; wrinkle

Context example:

ironing gets rid of most wrinkles

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

depression; impression; imprint (a concavity in a surface produced by pressing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "seam"):

crow's feet; crow's foot; laugh line (a wrinkle in the skin at the outer corner of your eyes)

dermatoglyphic (the lines that form patterns on the skin (especially on the fingertips and the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet))

frown line (a facial wrinkle associated with frowning)

life line; lifeline; line of life (a crease on the palm; its length is said by palmists to indicate how long you will live)

heart line; line of heart; love line; mensal line (a crease on the palm; palmists say it indicates your emotional nature)

line of destiny; line of fate; line of Saturn (a crease on the palm; palmists say it indicates how successful you will be)

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

cutis; skin; tegument (a natural protective body covering and site of the sense of touch)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A stratum of ore or coal thick enough to be mined with profit

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

bed; seam

Context example:

he worked in the coal beds

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

stratum (one of several parallel layers of material arranged one on top of another (such as a layer of tissue or cells in an organism or a layer of sedimentary rock))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "seam"):

coal seam (a seam of coal)

• SEAM (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they seam    ... he / she / it seams   
Past simple: seamed   
Past participle: seamed   
-ing form: seaming   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Put together with a seam

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

seam a dress

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

join (cause to become joined or linked)

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

suture (join with a suture)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

seam (joint consisting of a line formed by joining two pieces)

 Context examples 

There are but three seams; you may do them in a trice.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

He started to leave the room, tripping over a loose seam in the slatternly carpet.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The bean thanked him most prettily, but as the tailor used black thread, all beans since then have a black seam.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

They might also hide in the seams of chairs and couches, between cushions, and in the folds of curtains.

(Bedbugs, Environmental Protection Agency)

“You say sooth,” said Johnston, turning his seamed and grizzled face upon the man-at-arms.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At last I saw a yellow seam of light glimmering in front of me, and I knew that it came from the other panel.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When body lice are not feeding on blood, they live in the seams and folds of clothing.

(Human Body Louse, NCI Thesaurus)

Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the repulsive sneer to the face!

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

The pitch was bubbling in the seams; the nasty stench of the place turned me sick; if ever a man smelt fever and dysentery, it was in that abominable anchorage.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Meg rose as she spoke, and was just going to rehearse the dignified exit, when a step in the hall made her fly into her seat and begin to sew as fast as if her life depended on finishing that particular seam in a given time.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)