Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Hem

Hem (hĕm), pron. [OE., fr. AS. him, heom, dative pl. of. hē he. See He, They.] Them [Obs.] Chaucer.

Hem, interj. An onomatopoetic word used as an expression of hesitation, doubt, etc. It is often a sort of voluntary half cough, loud or subdued, and would perhaps be better expressed by hm.

Cough or cry hem, if anybody come. Shak.

Hem, n. An utterance or sound of the voice, hem or hm, often indicative of hesitation or doubt, sometimes used to call attention. "His morning hems." Spectator.

Hem, v. i. [√15. See Hem, interj.] To make the sound expressed by the word hem; hence, to hesitate in speaking. "Hem, and stroke thy beard." Shak.

Hem, n. [AS. hem, border, margin; cf. Fries. hämel, Prov. G. hammel hem of mire or dirt.] 1. The edge or border of a garment or cloth, doubled over and sewed, to strengthen it and prevent raveling.

2. Border; edge; margin. "Hem of the sea." Shak.

3. A border made on sheet-metal ware by doubling over the edge of the sheet, to stiffen it and remove the sharp edge.

Hem, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hemmed; p. pr. & vb. n. Hemming.] 1. To form a hem or border to; to fold and sew down the edge of. Wordsworth.

2. To border; to edge

All the skirt about Was hemmed with golden fringe. Spenser.

To hem about, around, or in, to inclose and confine; to surround; to environ. "With valiant squadrons round about to hem." Fairfax. "Hemmed in to be a spoil to tyranny." Daniel. — To hem out, to shut out. "You can not hem me out of London." J. Webster.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.