seam

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a line where two pieces of cloth, leather, or similar material are joined, usually by sewing

   The tailor reinforced the seam along the shoulder of the coat.

2. 2
   noun

   a line, groove, ridge, wrinkle, or scar on a surface

   A pale seam crossed the skin where the wound had healed.

3. 3
   noun

   a thin layer of rock or a bed of a mineral, especially coal

   The miners followed the coal seam deep beneath the hill.

4. 4
   verb

   to join pieces by sewing or by a comparable fastening process

   Workers seam the waterproof panels with heat rather than thread.

From Middle English seme, from Old English seam 'seam', ultimately from a Proto-Germanic noun meaning 'that which is sewn'. The word broadened from a sewn join to similar lines, scars, fissures, and mineral layers.

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