seamstress

[ seem-stris or, esp. British, sem- ]

/ ˈsim strɪs or, esp. British, ˈsɛm- /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR seamstress ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a woman whose occupation is sewing.

RELATED WORDS

tailor, clothier, dressmaker

Nearby words

Also sempstress.

Origin of seamstress

First recorded in 1605–15; seamst(e)r + -ess

Usage note

See -ess.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for seamstress

Mavis Lilian Lever was born in Dulwich, south London, on May 5, 1921, the daughter of a postal worker and a seamstress.
Week in Death: The Woman Who Cracked Hitler’s Codes|The Telegraph|November 17, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Danny, the only child of Su Zhen, a seamstress, and Yan Tao, a chef, lived in public housing on the Lower East Side.
Arrests of Service Men Raises Question of Racism in Soldier's Death|Diane Herbst|December 22, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Her mother was a seamstress and her father drove a delivery truck for Coca-Cola.
Joy Behar's New Point of View|Kevin Sessums|May 12, 2010|DAILY BEAST
The “team of stylists” around her in Minneapolis that Palin describes consisted of Kline, her assistant, and a seamstress.
Palin's Katie Couric Myths|Shushannah Walshe|November 18, 2009|DAILY BEAST

She had a better life of it at the seamstress's in King Street.
Their Majesties' Servants (Volume 2 of 3)|John Doran
To be a seamstress at Madame Michaud's—the odious idea of it!
The Vicissitudes of Bessie Fairfax|Harriet Parr
Yet she hesitated to enter the house while the Hodges were away, even though she felt certain the seamstress would not mind.
Clue of the Silken Ladder|Mildred A. Wirt
Any seamstress who can cut and make an ordinary work shirt can make an adickey if your outfitter cannot supply it.
Packing and Portaging|Dillon Wallace
That's the seamstress who was mentioned to me by a small tenant of mine?
Little Dorrit|Charles Dickens

British Dictionary definitions for seamstress

seamstress

rarely sempstress (ˈsɛmpstrɪs)

/ (ˈsɛmstrɪs) /

noun

a woman who sews and makes clothes, esp professionally

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

Word Origin and History for seamstress

seamstress

1640s, with -ess + seamster (also sempster), from Old English seamestre "sewer, tailor, person whose work is sewing," from seam. Originally indicating a woman, but after a while the fem. ending -estre no longer was felt as such and a new one added.