hem

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An edge or border on a piece of cloth, especially a finished edge, as for a garment or curtain, made by folding an edge under and stitching it down.
2. n. The height or level of the bottom edge of a skirt, dress, or coat; a hemline.
3. v. To fold back and stitch down the edge of.
4. v. To surround and shut in; enclose: a valley hemmed in by mountains. See Synonyms at enclose.
5. n. A short cough or clearing of the throat made especially to gain attention, warn another, hide embarrassment, or fill a pause in speech.
6. v. To utter a hem.
7. v. To hesitate in speech.
8. idiom. hem and haw To be hesitant and indecisive; equivocate: "a leader who cannot make up his or her mind, never knows what to do, hems and haws” ( Margaret Thatcher).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A narrow fold in the edge of a piece of textile material, made to prevent it from raveling. The stuff is turned over twice so as to cover the raw edge, and the inner fold or crease is sewed firmly down.
2. n. Edge; border; margin.
3. n. In architecture, the projecting spiral of the Ionic capital.
4. To form a hem or border to; fold and sew down the edge of: as, to hem an apron.
5. To border; edge.
6. To inclose; circumscribe; limit or confine by an environment of any kind: with in, about, or around.
7. An interjectional utterance, a sort of voluntary half-cough, intended to attract the attention of a particular person, to cover embarrassment by feigned indifference or hesitation, etc. Also ahem.
8. To make the sound expressed by the word hem; hence, to hesitate or stammer in speaking: as, to hem and haw.
9. To remove or otherwise affect by coughing.
10. See he, I., D .
11. See hemato-.

Wiktionary

1. interj. Used to fill in the gap of a pause with a vocalized sound.
2. n. sewing The border of an article of clothing doubled back and stitched together to finish the edge and prevent it from fraying.
3. n. A rim or margin of something.
4. n. In sheet metal design, a rim or edge folded back on itself to create a smooth edge and to increase strength or rigidity.
5. v. intransitive (in sewing) To make a hem.
6. v. intransitive (in speaking) To make a sound like hem (usually coupled with "haw" as in "hemmed and hawed.")
7. v. transitive : To put hem on an article of clothing, to edge or put a border on something.
8. v. transitive : To surround something or someone in a confining way.
9. pro. Obsolete form of 'em.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. pro. obsolete Them.
2. 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.
3. n. An utterance or sound of the voice, hem or hm, often indicative of hesitation or doubt, sometimes used to call attention.
4. v. To make the sound expressed by the word hem; hence, to hesitate in speaking.
5. n. The edge or border of a garment or cloth, doubled over and sewed, to strengthen it and prevent raveling.
6. n. Border; edge; margin.
7. n. A border made on sheet-metal ware by doubling over the edge of the sheet, to stiffen it and remove the sharp edge.
8. v. To form a hem or border to; to fold and sew down the edge of.
9. v. To border; to edge.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. utter `hem' or `ahem'
2. n. the edge of a piece of cloth; especially the finished edge that has been doubled under and stitched down
3. v. fold over and sew together to provide with a hem
4. n. the utterance of a sound similar to clearing the throat; intended to get attention, express hesitancy, fill a pause, hide embarrassment, warn a friend, etc.