sew, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

sew v.

[the movements of the needle and of the body or hand]

1. (also sew up) to have sexual intercourse; thus sewing n.

1834		‘The Cotton Balls’ in Randy Songster in Spedding & Watt (eds) I 201: She felt his needle with delight, / He used it with such power! / She made him work with all his might, / For very near an hour! [...] Why don’t you still keep sewing, dove? / Young Susan to him said, / Said he, I’d freely do so, love, / But I’ve used all my thread .
1896		Farmer Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 79: Coudre. To copulate; ‘to sew up’.
1959		in E. Cray Erotic Muse (1992) 407: I took down my pants and I crawled in between, / And I started to sew on her sewing machine. / I sewed and I sewed until crack of dawn.
2001		(con. late 19C) C. Jeffords Shady Ladies of the Old West 🌐 Some apparently listed themselves as seamstresses, milliners, or laundresses [...] and the association eventually became so notorious that newspapers used ‘fine sewing’ as a euphemism for prostitution.

2. (US black/gay) to masturbate.

1972

B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 115: to masturbate [...] sew (’40s).

plain sewing (n.)

1. (S.Afr./US) masturbation.

1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 9 Apr.n.p.: [...] if it is true that young Stout gets his plain sewing done by E.D.
2003		K. Cage Gayle 88/1: plain sewing v. 1. masturbate 2. have anal intercourse.

2. (S.Afr.) anal intercourse.

2003

K. Cage Gayle 88/1: plain sewing v. 1. masturbate 2. have anal intercourse.

sew someone’s sees (v.)

see under see n.

sew up (v.)

see separate entry.