Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HEM, v.t.

1. To form a hem or border; to fold and sew down the edge of cloth to strengthen it.
2. To border; to edge. All the skirt about / Was hemm'd with golden fringe. Spenser. To hem in, to inclose and confine; to surround; to environ. The troops were hemmed in by the enemy. Sometimes perhaps to hem about or round may be used in a like sense.