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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

sewing machines

plural

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.

See Examples For:

sewing machine

Almost simultaneously the sewing machine reduced the time needed to make a shirt from 16 hours to two, greatly reducing clothing costs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026

One invented the telegraph, another created the first revolver, still a third was the father of the American sewing machine.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026

Some 45 original stockholders invested alongside Hawk, a sewing machine salesman.

From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026

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

From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026

Then I put a towel over Bertha’s sewing machine and hung my backpack on the hook on the closet door.

From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor

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