Stem
Stem , intransitive verb
To gleam. [Obsolete]
His head bald, that shone as any glass,...
[And] stemed as a furnace of a leed [caldron].
Also: Steem
Stem , noun
A gleam of light; flame. [Obsolete]
Also: Steem
Stem (stem) , noun
[Anglo-Saxon stemn, stefn, staefn; akin to Old Saxon stamn the stem of a ship, Dutch stam stem, steven stem of a ship, German stamm stem, steven stem of a ship, Icelandic stafn, stamn, stem of a ship, stofn, stomn, stem, Swedish stam a tree trunk, Danish stamme. Compare 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.
The lowering spring, with lavish rain,
Beats down the slender stem and breaded grain.
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.
While I do pray, learn here thy stem
And true descent.
4.
A branch of a family.
This is a stem
Of that victorious stock.
5.
(Nautical) 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.
Figuratively: An advanced or leading position; the lookout.
Wolsey sat at the stem more than twenty years.
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.
(Botany) That part of a plant which bears leaves, or rudiments of leaves, whether rising above ground or wholly subterranean.
9.
(a) (Zoology) The entire central axis of a feather.
(b)
(Zoology) The basal portion of the body of one of the Pennatulacea, or of a gorgonian.
10.
(Music) The short perpendicular line added to the body of a note; the tail of a crotchet, quaver, semiquaver, etc.
11.
(Grammar) The part of an inflected word which remains unchanged (except by euphonic variations) throughout a given inflection; theme; base.
Collocations (2)
From stem to stern (Nautical) , from one end of the ship to the other, or through the whole length.
Stem leaf (Botany) , a leaf growing from the stem of a plant, as contrasted with a basal or radical leaf.
Stem , transitive verb
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 , transitive verb
[Either from stem, n., or akin to stammer; compare German 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.
[They] stem the flood with their erected breasts.
Stemmed the wild torrent of a barbarous age.
Stem , intransitive verb
To move forward against an obstacle, as a vessel against a current.
Stemming nightly toward the pole.