GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 6 definitions

1.       
   { Stem , Steem , } v. i. To gleam. [Obs.]
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   His head bald, that shone as any glass, . . . 
   [And] stemed as a furnace of a leed [caldron].
   Chaucer.
   
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2.       
   { Stem, Steem }, n. A gleam of light; flame. [Obs.]
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3.       
   Stem , n. [AS. stemn, stefn, staefn; 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.]
   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.
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   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.
   
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   The lowering spring, with lavish rain,
   Beats down the slender stem and breaded grain.
   Dryden.
   
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   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.
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   The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors. “All that are of noble stem.”
   Milton.
   
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   While I do pray, learn here thy stem
   And true descent.
   Herbert.
   
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   A branch of a family.
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   This is a stem
   Of that victorious stock.
   Shak.
   
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   (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.
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   Fig.: An advanced or leading position; the lookout.
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   Wolsey sat at the stem more than twenty years.
   Fuller.
   
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   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.
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   (Bot.) That part of a plant which bears leaves, or rudiments of leaves, whether rising above ground or wholly subterranean.
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   (Zool.) (a) The entire central axis of a feather. (b) The basal portion of the body of one of the Pennatulacea, or of a gorgonian.
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   (Mus.) The short perpendicular line added to the body of a note; the tail of a crotchet, quaver, semiquaver, etc.
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   (Gram.) The part of an inflected word which remains unchanged (except by euphonic variations) throughout a given inflection; theme; base.
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   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.
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4.       
   Stem, v. t.
   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.
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   To ram, as clay, into a blasting hole.
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5.       
   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.
   
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   [They] stem the flood with their erected breasts.
   Denham.
   
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   Stemmed the wild torrent of a barbarous age.
   Pope.
   
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6.       
   Stem, v. i. To move forward against an obstacle, as a vessel against a current.
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   Stemming nightly toward the pole.
   Milton.
   
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