HEM IN • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Hem in

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/hɛm ɪn/ Listen

verb

Hem v. t. (past & past part. hemmed; pres. part. hemming)

To form a hem or border to; to fold and sew down the edge of.

To border; to edge "All the skirt about Was hemmed with golden fringe."

To hem about, To hem around, or To hem in, to inclose and confine; to surround; to environ. "With valiant squadrons round about to hem." "Hemmed in to be a spoil to tyranny."

To hem out, to shut out. "You can not hem me out of London."

See images of 'Hem in'

Etymology of 'Hem in'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Hem in" Quotes from Famous Books

... that stood in the way of Jefferson's scheme, but the wholesale way in which he tried to deal with the slavery question. He wished to hem in the probable extension of slavery by an impassable barrier, and accordingly he not only provided that it should be extinguished in the northwestern territory after the year 1800, but at the same time his anti-slavery ardour led him to try to extend the national dominion southward. He did his ...

— The Critical Period of American History • John Fiske

... of Fougeres is partly built upon a slate rock, which seems to have slipped from the mountains that hem in the broad valley of Couesnon to the west and take various names according to their localities. The town is separated from the mountains by a gorge, through which flows a small river called the Nancon. To the east, the ...

— The Chouans • Honore de Balzac

... Fulvia, now thy happy days are done! Instead of marriage pomp, the fatal lights Of funerals must masque about thy bed: Nor shall thy father's arms with kind embrace Hem in thy shoulders, trembling now for fear. I see in Marius' looks such tragedies, As fear my heart; ...

— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. VII (4th edition) • Various

... recollections of my friends and acquaintances who had influenced me most, and guided me in my not always easy passage through life. As in describing the course of a river, we cannot do better than to describe the shores which hem in and divert the river and are reflected on its waves, I thought that by describing my environment, my friends, and fellow workers, I could best describe the course of my own life. I hoped also that in this way I myself could keep as much as possible ...

— My Autobiography - A Fragment • F. Max Mueller

... the next stage westward from the St. Croix to the St. Lawrence. The British position was a difficult one to maintain. In the days of the struggle with France, Great Britain had tried to push the bounds of the New England colonies as far north as might be, making claims that would hem in France to the barest strip along the south shore of the St. Lawrence. Now that she was heir to the territories and claims of France and had lost her own old colonies, it was somewhat embarrassing, ...

— The Canadian Dominion - A Chronicle of our Northern Neighbor • Oscar D. Skelton