sew

¹ American  

[soh] / soʊ /

verb (used with object)

sewed, sewn, sewed, sewing

1. to join or attach by stitches.

2. to make, repair, etc., (a garment) by such means.

3. to enclose or secure with stitches.

   to sew flour in a bag.

4. to close (a hole, wound, etc.) by means of stitches (usually followed byup ).

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verb (used without object)

sewed, sewn, sewed, sewing

1. to work with a needle and thread or with a sewing machine.

verb phrase

1. sew up

   1. Informal. to get or have a monopoly of; control exclusively.

   2. Informal. to complete or conclude (arrangements, negotiations, etc.) successfully.

      They were about to sew up the deal when the argument started.

   3. to gain or be assured of.

      He tried to sew up as many votes as possible before the convention.

sew ² American  

[soo] / su /

verb (used with object)

sewed, sewing

1. to ground (a vessel) at low tide (sometimes followed by byup ).

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verb (used without object)

sewed, sewing

1. (of a vessel) to be grounded at low tide.

noun

1. the amount of additional water necessary to float a grounded vessel.

sew British  

/ səʊ /

verb

1. to join or decorate (pieces of fabric, etc) by means of a thread repeatedly passed through with a needle or similar implement

2. (tr; often foll by on or up) to attach, fasten, or close by sewing

3. (tr) to make (a garment, etc) by sewing

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Other Word Forms

• sewable
  adjective

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sew sewed sewing sewn

"Using foot-pedalling to sew uniforms is very hard because it is slow", he told AFP.

From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026

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

We have a big couch, and I sew while Jake watches movies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026

Others simply mocked the assertion that a new ballroom would sew up the president’s apparent security concerns.

From Salon ● May 1, 2026

I stay up while the house is quiet, drying clothes by the fire and sewing a rip in Helena’s skirt where I didn’t sew it very well in the first place.

From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron

“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

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

While the girls sewed, a nun read aloud so that no-one talked.

From BBC ● Nov. 15, 2025

Amabile says she has an older sister who for years sewed Halloween costumes for her family.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2025

She starts folding and piling up costumes she sewed for Barrio Fiesta.

From "The House That Lou Built" by Mae Respicio

My mother made all our clothes on a Singer sewing machine for years.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026

She said hobbies such as cooking, sewing and gardening were her generation's "rejection of this hyper-digital world that feels really all-consuming".

From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026

Founded in 1862 by Adam Opel, the company produced sewing machines and later bicycles, before venturing into car manufacturing in 1899 at its Ruesselsheim site.

From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026

A pile of mending projects in my sewing room filled a shelf.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026

She learned to clean a fish with a curved knife sharper than any sewing needle and save the fish heads for bait.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

These are of parchment, prepared from specially treated animal skins that had to be sewn together to accommodate the lofty towers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026

And Wawrinka carried a memento of those shorts in his final French Open outing, with a strip of the fabric sewn on to his shirt.

From BBC ● May 25, 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

Related Words

• embroider
• fasten
• stitch
• tailor