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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Stem

Stēm, n.

noun

n. [A-S. stemn, stefn, stīfn, O. Sax. stamm, Icel. stofn, O. H. Ger., D., & Sw. stam, Dan. stamme, N. H. Ger. stamm; allied to the root of staff.] 1. The principal body of a tree, shrub, or plant, of any kind; the main stock; the firm part which supports the branches. After they are shot up thirty feet in length, they spread a very large top, having no bough or twig on the stem. Raleigh. The lowering spring, with lavish rain, Beats down the slender stem and bearded grain. Dryden. 2. A little branch which connects a fruit or flower with a main branch; a peduncle, pedicel, or petiole. It grew on the green stem. Milton. 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 descendant; progeny; branch of a family. This is a stem Of that victorious stock. Shak.

  1. [A-S. stefn, Icel. stafn, Dan. stawn, stævn, Sw. stäf, stam, M. H. Ger. steben, O. Sax. stamn, L. Ger. & D. steven, O. D. steve.] (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.
  2. Hence, the leading position; the lookout.

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

  1. (Mus.) The short, perpendicular line added to the body of a note.
  2. (Mining.) A day's work. [Eng.]

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

Stēm, v. t.

verbtransitive

[imp. & p. p. STEMMED; p. pr. & vb. n. STEMMING.] [A-S. stemmian, forestemmian.]

Sense 1. To oppose, or cut, as with the stem of a vessel; to resist, as a current; to make progress against, as a current. “An argosy to stem the waves.” Shak.

They stem the flood with their erected breasts. Denham.

Sense 2. To oppose; to stop; to check, as a stream or moving force.

At length Erasmus, that great injured name, The glory of the priesthood, and the shame, Stemmed the wild torrent of a barbarous age, And drove those holy Vandals off the stage. Pope.