sew

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   create (clothes) with cloth

   Can the seamstress sew me a suit by next week?

2. 2
   verb

   To use a needle to pass thread repeatedly through (pieces of fabric) in order to join them together.

   Balls were first made of grass or leaves held together by strings, and later of pieces of animal skin sewn together and stuffed with feathers or hay.

3. 3
   verb

   Followed by into: to enclose by sewing.

   to sew money into a bag

4. 4
   verb

   To drain the water from.

   Now geld with the gelder the ram and the bul, / sew ponds, amend dammes, and sel webster thy wul

5. 5
   verb

   Of a ship, to be grounded.

   The upward reaction of the keel blocks may be considered as a negative weight in a moment calculation, producing a decrease in the ship's stability, and it is most important that the vessel remains stable until she takes the blocks along the full length of her keel, i.e. when she is sewed, for until this moment the side shores cannot be successfully rigged.

6. 6
   noun

   Broth, gravy.

   And than as for other Potages, ſtued Trypys, yt is dight redy. And than for to make the Numbleis in ſewe[…]

7. 7
   verb

   fasten by sewing

8. 8
   verb

   To use a needle to pass thread repeatedly through pieces of fabric in order to join them together.

Etymology

From Middle English sewen, seowen, sowen, from Old English siwian, seowian, seowan (“to sew, mend, patch, knit together, link, unite”), from Proto-Germanic *siwjaną (“to sew”), from Proto-Indo-European *syewH- (“to sew”). Cognate with Scots sew, North Frisian saie, sei, Saterland Frisian säie, Danish sy, Swedish sy, and, more distantly, Polish szyć, Russian шить (šitʹ), Latin suō, Sanskrit सीव्यति (sī́vyati). Related to seam.