Definitions for: Stem


[n] a turn made in skiing; the back of one ski is forced outward and the other ski is brought parallel to it
[n] front part of a vessel or aircraft; "he pointed the bow of the boat toward the finish line"
[n] the tube of a tobacco pipe
[n] cylinder forming a long narrow part of something
[n] (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed; "thematic vowels are part of the stem"
[n] a slender or elongated structure that supports a plant or fungus or a plant part or plant organ
[v] as of the flow of a liquid flowing, such as blood from a wound
[v] grow out of, have roots in, originate in; "The increase in the national debt stems from the last war"



Webster (1913) Definition: Stem, Steem Steem, v. i.
To gleam. [Obs.]

His head bald, that shone as any glass, . . . [And]
stemed as a furnace of a leed [caldron]. --Chaucer.


Stem, Steem Steem, n.
A gleam of light; flame. [Obs.]


Stem, n. [AS. stemn, stefn, st[ae]fn; akin to OS. stamn
the stem of a ship, D. stam stem, steven stem of a ship, G.
stamm stem, steven stem of a ship, Icel. stafn, stamn, stem
of a ship, stofn, stomn, stem, Sw. stam a tree trunk, Dan.
stamme. Cf. Staff, Stand.]
1. The principal body of a tree, shrub, or plant, of any
kind; the main stock; the part which supports the branches
or the head or top.

After they are shot up thirty feet in length, they
spread a very large top, having no bough nor twig in
the trunk or the stem. --Sir W.
Raleigh.

The lowering spring, with lavish rain, Beats down
the slender stem and breaded grain. --Dryden.

2. A little branch which connects a fruit, flower, or leaf
with a main branch; a peduncle, pedicel, or petiole; as,
the stem of an apple or a cherry.

3. The stock of a family; a race or generation of
progenitors. ``All that are of noble stem.'' --Milton.

While I do pray, learn here thy stem And true
descent. --Herbert.

4. A branch of a family.

This is a stem Of that victorious stock. --Shak.

5. (Naut.) A curved piece of timber to which the two sides of
a ship are united at the fore end. The lower end of it is
scarfed to the keel, and the bowsprit rests upon its upper
end. Hence, the forward part of a vessel; the bow.

6. Fig.: An advanced or leading position; the lookout.

Wolsey sat at the stem more than twenty years.
--Fuller.

7. Anything resembling a stem or stalk; as, the stem of a
tobacco pipe; the stem of a watch case, or that part to
which the ring, by which it is suspended, is attached.

8. (Bot.) That part of a plant which bears leaves, or
rudiments of leaves, whether rising above ground or wholly
subterranean.

9. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) The entire central axis of a feather.
(b) The basal portion of the body of one of the
Pennatulacea, or of a gorgonian.

10. (Mus.) The short perpendicular line added to the body of
a note; the tail of a crotchet, quaver, semiquaver, etc.

11. (Gram.) The part of an inflected word which remains
unchanged (except by euphonic variations) throughout a
given inflection; theme; base.

From stem to stern (Naut.), from one end of the ship to the
other, or through the whole length.

Stem leaf (Bot.), a leaf growing from the stem of a plant,
as contrasted with a basal or radical leaf.


Stem, v. t.
1. To remove the stem or stems from; as, to stem cherries; to
remove the stem and its appendages (ribs and veins) from;
as, to stem tobacco leaves.

2. To ram, as clay, into a blasting hole.


Stem, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stemmed; p. pr. & vb. n.
Stemming.] [Either from stem, n., or akin to stammer; cf.
G. stemmen to press against.]
To oppose or cut with, or as with, the stem of a vessel; to
resist, or make progress against; to stop or check the flow
of, as a current. ``An argosy to stem the waves.'' --Shak.

[They] stem the flood with their erected breasts.
--Denham.

Stemmed the wild torrent of a barbarous age. --Pope.


Stem, v. i.
To move forward against an obstacle, as a vessel against a
current.

Stemming nightly toward the pole. --Milton.

Synonyms: base, bow, fore, halt, prow, radical, root, root word, shank, stalk, stanch, staunch, stem turn, theme

See Also: anchor, axis, beanstalk, bole, branch, bulb, cane, caudex, check, cladode, cladophyll, corm, culm, cutting, cylinder, filament, flower stalk, form, front, funicle, funiculus, grip, ground tackle, halm, handgrip, handle, haulm, hold, key, leafstalk, nail, originate in, petiole, phylloclad, phylloclade, pin, pipe, plant organ, receptacle, rhizome, rootstalk, rootstock, scape, signifier, slip, sporangiophore, stipe, stock, tobacco pipe, tree trunk, trunk, tube, tuber, tubing, turn, turning, vessel, watercraft, wineglass, word form

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