Seam vs Seem - What's the difference?
seam | seem |
(sewing) A folded back and stitched piece of fabric; especially, the stitching that joins two or more pieces of fabric.
*
A suture.
A thin stratum, especially of coal or mineral.
(cricket) The stitched equatorial seam of a cricket ball; the sideways movement of a ball when it bounces on the seam.
An old English measure of grain, containing eight bushels.
An old English measure of glass, containing twenty-four weys of five pounds, or 120 pounds.
* 1952 , , Building in England , p. 175.
(construction) A joint formed by mating two separate sections of materials.
A line or depression left by a cut or wound; a scar; a cicatrix.
(figurative) A line of junction; a joint.
* (Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
To put together with a seam.
To make the appearance of a seam in, as in knitting a stocking; hence, to knit with a certain stitch, like that in such knitting.
To mark with a seam or line; to scar.
* Alexander Pope
To crack open along a seam.
* L. Wallace
(cricket) Of the ball, to move sideways after bouncing on the seam.
(cricket) Of a bowler, to make the ball move thus.
(lb) To appear; to look outwardly; to be perceived as.
* 1813 (14thc.), (Dante Alighieri), The Vision of Hell as translated by The Rev. H. F. Cary.
*:He, from his face removing the gross air, / Oft his left hand forth stretch'd, and seem'd alone / By that annoyance wearied.
*
*:They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too..
*, title=The Mirror and the Lamp
, chapter=2 *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=19 *{{quote-news, year=2012, date=August 5, author=Nathan Rabin
, title= (lb) To befit; to beseem.
:(Spenser)
As verbs the difference between seam and seem
is that seam is to put together with a seam while seem is to appear; to look outwardly; to be perceived as.As a noun seam
is a folded back and stitched piece of fabric; especially, the stitching that joins two or more pieces of fabric.Wpseam
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)- Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […] Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.
- As white glass was 6s. the 'seam', containing 24 'weys' (pise, or pondera) of 5 lb., and 2½ lb. was reckoned sufficient to make one foot of glazing, the cost of glass would be 1½d. leaving 2½d. for labour.
- Seams can be made or sealed in a variety of ways, including adhesive bonding, hot-air welding, solvent welding, using adhesive tapes, sealant, etc.
- Precepts should be so finely wrought togetherthat no coarse seam may discover where they join.
Derived terms
* seamster * seamstressVerb
(en verb)- Seamed o'er with wounds which his own sabre gave.
- Later their lips began to parch and seam .
Quotations
* Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Skeleton in Armor : *: Thus, seamed with many scars, / Bursting these prison bars, / Up to its native stars / My soul ascended!Etymology 2
See saim.Anagrams
* * * *seem
English
Verb
(en verb)citation, passage=That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.}}
citation, passage=Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.}}
TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa”(season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993) , passage=So while Ralph generally seems to inhabit a different, more glorious and joyful universe than everyone else here his yearning and heartbreak are eminently relateable. Ralph sometimes appears to be a magically demented sprite who has assumed the form of a boy, but he’s never been more poignantly, nakedly, movingly human than he is here.}}