Word.ws English Dictionary

hemming

/ˈhɛmɪŋ/

hemming is the present participle and gerund of hem.

Meaning of hem

Verb (1)

hem (third-person singular simple present hems, present participle hemming, simple past and past participle hemmed)

  1. To make the sound expressed by the word hem; to hesitate in speaking.
    • Hem, and stroke thy beard.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

Verb (2)

hem (third-person singular simple present hems, present participle hemming, simple past and past participle hemmed)

  1. (intransitive) To make a hem.
  2. (transitive) To put hem on an article of clothing, to edge or put a border on something.
  3. (transitive) To shut in, enclose, confine; to surround something or someone in a confining way.
    • A small yard hemmed about by a tall hedge.

See all 10 meanings of hem

Noun

hemming (plural hemmings)

  1. The act of saying "hem", in intermission or hesitation of speech.
    • Blushing and stammering, awkward pauses, hemmings and hawings, tremblings of voice, and confusion in all its shapes there were between them […]1847, The University Magazine: A Literary and Philosophic Review, page 285

Proper noun capitalized: Hemming

Hemming

  1. A surname.

Forms of hemming

pluralhemmings

Origin of hemming

* As an English, Scottish, and Swedish surname, from the Old Norse personal name Hemingr, variant of Hæmingr, itself of uncertain origin, possibly from hamr, hemingr (“form, shape; skin of an animal”). This word may have been borrowed into Old English as hemming (“a rawhide boot”). * As a German surname, variant of Hemme.

Words formed from hemming

Phrases with hemming

Words that rhyme with hemming

Questions about hemming

What does hemming mean?
Hemming means the act of saying "hem", in intermission or hesitation of speech.
What is hemming the present participle and gerund of?
Hemming is the present participle and gerund of hem.
What part of speech is hemming?
Hemming can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce hemming?
Hemming is pronounced /ˈhɛmɪŋ/.
What is the plural of hemming?
The plural of hemming is hemmings.

Words near hemming in the dictionary

  1. Hemmerly
  2. hemmers
  3. Hemmert
  4. Hemmerts
  5. Hemmes
  6. hemming
  7. hemming and hahing
  8. hemming and hawing
  9. hemming in
  10. hemming up
  11. Hemminger

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hemming (page history and authors); Hemming (page history and authors); hem (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “hemming.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hemming. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.