comes apart at the seams - definition of comes apart at the seams by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

seam (s

a. A line of junction formed by sewing together two pieces of material along their margins.

b. A similar line, ridge, or groove made by fitting, joining, or lapping together two sections along their edges.

c. A suture.

d. A scar.

2. A line across a surface, as a crack, fissure, or wrinkle.

3. A thin layer or stratum, as of coal or rock.

v. seamed, seam·ing, seams

v.tr.

1. To put together with or as if with a seam.

2. To mark with a groove, wrinkle, scar, or other seamlike line.

3. To form ridges in by purling.

v.intr.

1. To become fissured or furrowed; crack open.

2. To purl.

[Middle English seme, from Old English sam; see sy- in Indo-European roots.]

seamer n.

seam

Noun

1. the line along which pieces of fabric are joined by stitching

2. a ridge or line made by joining two edges: the seam between the old and the new buildings

3. a long narrow layer of coal, marble, or ore formed between layers of other rocks

4. a mark or line like a seam, such as a wrinkle or scar

Adjective

Cricket of a style of bowling in which the bowler uses the stitched seam round the ball in order to make it swing in flight and after touching the ground: a seam bowler

Verb

1. to join together by or as if by a seam

2. to mark with furrows or wrinkles [Old English sēam]

seam (s

A thin layer or stratum, as of coal or rock.

Seam a horse-load; a load or burden; specifically, eight bushels of grain; three hundred-weight of hay or manure; two hundred-weight of straw (a cartload).

Examples: seam of apples (9 pecks); of corn (a quarter), 1440; of dung, 1726; of glass (120 lb.), 1325; of grain (8 bushels); of hay (3 ctw), 1880; of lime, 1536; of manure, (3 cwt); of oats (8 bushels), 1377; of sand (6-8 pecks); of straw (3 cwt); of wood, 1545.

ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms

Noun	1.	seam - joint consisting of a line formed by joining two pieces felled seam, fell - seam made by turning under or folding together and stitching the seamed materials to avoid rough edges joint - junction by which parts or objects are joined together surgical seam, suture - a seam used in surgery welt - a raised or strengthened seam
	2.	seam - a slight depression in the smoothness of a surface; "his face has many lines"; "ironing gets rid of most wrinkles" crinkle, wrinkle, crease, furrow, line cutis, skin, tegument - a natural protective body covering and site of the sense of touch; "your skin is the largest organ of your body" imprint, impression, depression - a concavity in a surface produced by pressing; "he left the impression of his fingers in the soft mud" crow's feet, crow's foot, laugh line - a wrinkle in the skin at the outer corner of your eyes dermatoglyphic - the lines that form patterns on the skin (especially on the fingertips and the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet) frown line - a facial wrinkle associated with frowning life line, lifeline, line of life - a crease on the palm; its length is said by palmists to indicate how long you will live heart line, line of heart, love line, mensal line - a crease on the palm; palmists say it indicates your emotional nature line of destiny, line of fate, line of Saturn - a crease on the palm; palmists say it indicates how successful you will be
	3.	seam - a stratum of ore or coal thick enough to be mined with profit; "he worked in the coal beds" bed stratum - one of several parallel layers of material arranged one on top of another (such as a layer of tissue or cells in an organism or a layer of sedimentary rock) coal seam - a seam of coal
Verb	1.	seam - put together with a seam; "seam a dress" bring together, join - cause to become joined or linked; "join these two parts so that they fit together" suture - join with a suture; "suture the wound after surgery"