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hem verb To surround, corner (as an opponent or a hunted animal) [DARE labels this usage “chiefly South, South Midland”]

1862 Robinson CW Letters (Aug 29) we have got them hemd I think but I doant no how long tha[y] can live. 1913 Morley Carolina Mts 300 A bear ain’t goin’ to hurt a man noway unless he’s hemmed, then he'll kill you. 1956 Hall Coll (Roaring Fork TN) [A bear scrape is] a fight with dogs to kill a “hemmed bear.” 1987 Trent Yesteryear 102 She lived her entire life of seventy-five years in her humble cabin hemmed in between two lofty peaks of the Clinch Mountains.