▪ I. † ˈhemming, n. Obs.
[a. ON. hemingr (hǫmungr) ‘the skin of the shanks of a hide’, f. hǫm shank.]
The skin or hide of a deer's shank; a rough shoe or brogue made from this.
| c 1050 Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 468/31 Pero, hemming i. ruh sco. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 476 Þe heminges swiþe on est He schar and layd bi side. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. xxix. 274 At sa gret myschef he wes, That hys Knychtis weryd Rewylynys Of Hydis, or of Hart Hemmynys. |
▪ II. hemming, vbl. n.1
(ˈhɛmɪŋ)
[f. hem v.1 + -ing1.]
a. The action of the vb. hem1; the making or providing of a firm neat border to any article of clothing, upholstery, or the like; that which is hemmed; a fringe, the border of a garment. Also hemming-in.
German hemming, a substitute for top-sewing (Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 1882).
| a 1300 E.E. Psalter xliv. 14 [xlv. 13] Doghtres of kinges..In gliterand gilted hemminges. 1502 Privy Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830) 7 Payed for the hemmyng of a kertelle of the Quenes of damaske iiijd. 1530 Palsgr. 230/2 Hemmyng or hemme of a garment, ourelevre. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. i. ix. 23 Many favours which God giveth us ravell out for want of hemming. 1888 Illustr. Lond. News 14 Apr. 384/1 The exquisitely fine hemming and stitching shown at Lord Aberdeen's house. 1905 Fabian News Mar. 14/2 It is enacted that ‘he who receives relief must submit to the hemmings in of his personal liberty which the law imposes’. |
b. attrib.
| 1858 U.S. Patent 21,355 (title) Improvement in hemming guides for sewing machines. a 1865 in M. Johnson Amer. Advertising (1960), Patent binding folders and hemming guides on hand. 1932 D. C. Minter Mod. Needlecraft 196/2 For Machining Hems.—Screw on the hemming foot in place of the presser foot. 1972 Canad. Antiques Collector Mar.–Apr. 32/2 A hemming bird, ornate and beautifully made..brought over..one hundred and fifty years ago from Scotland. |
▪ III. hemming, vbl. n.2
[f. hem v.2 + -ing1.]
The action of the verb hem2; coughing, clearing of the throat.
| 1470–85 Malory Arthur xi. viii, She coughed soo lowde that syre launcelot awaked and he knew her hemynge. 1553 Becon Reliques of Rome (1563) 263 b, It might chaunce to be cast out by spitting or hemmyng. 1609 Ev. Woman in Hum. ii. i. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, Hem, hem. A pox on your hemmings, do you think we care for your hemmings? 1786 F. Burney Diary 6 Oct., At length a prodigious hemming showed the preparation in the Colonel for a speech. 1896 in Sir. A. Otway Pref. to Autobiog. Ld. Clarence Paget 5 With his ‘hemming’ and ‘hawing’, and other tokens of oratorical imperfection. |