sew
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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to join or attach by stitches.
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to make, repair, etc., (a garment) by such means.
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to enclose or secure with stitches.
to sew flour in a bag.
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to close (a hole, wound, etc.) by means of stitches (usually followed byup ).
verb (used without object)
verb phrase
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
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to join or decorate (pieces of fabric, etc) by means of a thread repeatedly passed through with a needle or similar implement
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(tr; often foll by on or up) to attach, fasten, or close by sewing
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(tr) to make (a garment, etc) by sewing
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sew1
First recorded before 900; Middle English seuen, souen, Old English siw(i)an, siowan; cognate with Old High German siuwan, Old Norse sauma, Gothic siujan; akin to Sanskrit sī́vyati “(he) sews,” Latin suere; see also seam
Origin of sew2
First recorded in 1580–90; from Middle French sewer, shortening of essewer, from unattested Vulgar Latin exaquāre, equivalent to Latin ex- “out of, from, thoroughly” + verb derivative of aqua “water”; see also sewer 1
Explanation
Sew describes stitching something together. If you sew up the holes in your socks, you use thread and a needle to close them. The word sew comes from the Old English word siwian, to stitch. You can sew a patch on a pair of jeans, sew a dress, or sew up a hole in your grandmother's old quilt. A figurative meaning of sew, as in the phrase to sew something up, is to secure something or bring it to a happy conclusion, like sewing up the plot in the last chapter of a book. Don't confuse sew with sow, to plant or set in motion.
Vocabulary lists containing sew
Spelling Practice, Unit 8
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Spelling Practice 1, Unit 5
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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.
See Examples For:
But regardless, he said, Democrats would have to find a way to "sew these two very large groups back together" if they wanted to reverse recent election losses.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
He began experimenting with a sewing machine and, in 1846, introduced a foot-powered model that could sew 250 stitches a minute, outracing the fastest human hands by a factor of five.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
PhD fashion students at DMU put on a workshop teaching pupils how to sew and mend damaged clothes.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
Others simply mocked the assertion that a new ballroom would sew up the president’s apparent security concerns.
From Salon ● May 1, 2026
From her mother she learned the business of running the house—how to sew neat, tiny stitches, how to spin rough wool into yarn, how to keep crowded chambers clean and orderly.
From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman
“My father built a cabin and gardened; we raised chickens and sheep. My mother was a schoolteacher who sewed all my clothes and dolls.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
She’d hired a local BBQ judge who emptied out a hog, stuffed it with pulled pork and sewed it back together.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
Ireland sewed up the play-off place in the group thanks to Troy Parrott's 96th-minute hat-trick goal handing them a 3-2 win over third-placed Hungary.
From Barron's ● Nov. 16, 2025
He sells overalls with rain boots sewed in to them on TikTok.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2025
Ma sewed hats for Mary and Laura of the finest, narrowest braid.
From "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Megan Romer likes to spend her free time sewing costumes for school plays, picking blackberries in her backyard in rural Cayuga County, N.Y., and watching her partner play the fiddle in folk bands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
She found a job in a Brooklyn factory sewing buttons on coats for half a penny per button.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
When she’s not writing, she enjoys playing dominoes, sewing and spending time at the beach.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2026
At the bustling centre, sewing machines hummed as women stitched blankets, while others stacked thin mattresses ready to be handed out.
From Barron's ● May 25, 2026
Aunt Kitty nodded in agreement, though her eyes stayed fixed on her sewing.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
He had slipped them into specially fitted, bottle-size pockets sewn into his overcoat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026
The full length was hand sewn by Grant to "make it nice and flat as Venezuela walked and I used an embroidery machine to do the edging round the side".
From BBC ● May 20, 2026
“I’ve never sewn a jacket in my life,” she says.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2026
All of this ambiguity is intentional, sewn into the script with as much care as Sam stitches her dresses.
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2026
“Ripped his shirt,” Lady Meng whispered, and Pinmei thought about the dragon shirt Lady Meng had sewn.
From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
