Hem

Source : Wright, Joseph English Dialect Dictionary web : https://eddonline4-proj.uibk.ac.at/edd/main.html

HEM, sb.1 Yks. Lan. Dev. [em.] The edge of anything; the border or skirting of a field or plot of ground. Yks. (J.W.) Lan. A prattier wench niver nipt th' hem of a cake, Brierley Day Out (1859) 18. Dev. N. & Q. (1879) 5th S. xi. 93. [Hovande one þe hye waye by þe holte hemmes, Morte Arth. (c. 1420) 1648.]

HEM, sb.2 Obs. Som. A partition in an oven used for baking Lapis calaminaris. The ovens wherein the Lapis calaminaris or calamine is baked have a hearth made on one side of the oven, divided from the oven itself by a partition open at the top, by which the flame passes over, and so heats and bakes the calamine. This partition is called the hem (K.).

HEM, sb.3 and adv. Ken. Sur. Sus. Also written em Sus. [em.] 1. sb. A euphemism for the devil, the infernal regions, &c. Ken. Don't ye be in such a terrible hem of a hurry, Ellis Pronunc. (1889) V. 138. Sur.1 I see a hem of a lot of sand mucked out there sure-ly. Sus. It was de very hem of a place for Pharisees, Lower S. Downs (1854) 159; The six as be shut out, they just do make a hem of a noise, Egerton Flks. and Ways (1884) 3; What de hem do you mean? (F.W.L.) 2. Comb. (1) Hem-a-bit, never a bit, certainly not; (2) Hem-and-all, an intensitive adv. (1) Sus.1 ‘Ah,’ says he, ‘'tis better than no weather at all;’ and hem-a-bit would he say any more; Sus.2 (2) Ken. My wife's brother's son is a hem-an-all fine shot with a rifle, they tell me, Longman's Mag. (Nov. 1891) 88. Sus. A liddle bowl full of summut dat smelt a hem-an-all better dan small beer, Lower S. Downs (1854) 160; 'Twas em an all de nighest way, Lower Tom Cladpole (1831) st. 100. 3. adv. Very, exceedingly. Ken.1 Hem queer old chap, he is! Sur.1 Sus. You be hem purty, my love; there aünt a spot in ye, Lower Sng. Sol. (1860) iv. 7; Sus.2 Hem rum ol' fellow dat. e.Sus. A hem cold day (R.H.C.); Hem bad weather, Holloway.

HEM, v. Lakel. Yks. [h)em.] with in: of winter days: to draw in. Lakel.1 w.Yks. The days hems in short, Lucas Stud. Nidderdale (c. 1882) 258.

HEM, see Em, Hame, sb.1

Source : Century Dictionary ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_Dictionary )