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sewing machine

American

noun

any of various foot-operated or electric machines for sewing or making stitches, ranging from machines with a shuttle for a spool of thread and a needle for sewing garments to industrial machines for sewing leather, book pages together, etc.

sewing machine British

noun

any machine designed to sew material. It is now usually driven by electric motor but is sometimes operated by a foot treadle or by hand

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of sewing machine

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Student, Emma Harrow, borrowed a sewing machine to teach herself to make alterations to clothes.

From BBC • Jun. 4, 2026

She said she used to purchase fabrics from the luxury department store Liberty London and her mother-in-law bought her a sewing machine and encouraged her to sew.

From BBC • May 30, 2026

Still, sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is not always visible from behind a classroom sewing machine.

From Los Angeles Times • May 11, 2026

Patent No. 4,750 for his lock-stitch sewing machine.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026

Mami’s sewing machine, the bed, her rocking chair, the small dresser where Papi kept his special things, baked in the sun, their worn surfaces scarred, their joints loose and creaky.

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023