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Entry 17 senses · 6 variants Webster, 1913

Stem

/stĕm/ · IPA /stɛm/
01 v. i. To gleam.
  1. 1.
    To gleam.[Obs.]
    “His head bald, that shone as any glass, . . . [And] stemed as a furnace of a leed [caldron].” — Chaucer.
02 n. A gleam of light; flame.
  1. 1.
    A gleam of light; flame.[Obs.]
03 n. 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.
  1. 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. 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. 3.
    The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors.
    “While I do pray, learn here thy stem And true descent.” — Herbert.
  4. 4.
    A branch of a family.
    “This is a stem Of that victorious stock.” — Shak.
  5. 5.
    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.(Naut.)
  6. 6.
    Fig.: An advanced or leading position; the lookout.
    “Wolsey sat at the stem more than twenty years.” — Fuller.
  7. 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. 8.
    That part of a plant which bears leaves, or rudiments of leaves, whether rising above ground or wholly subterranean.(Bot.)
  9. 9.
    The entire central axis of a feather.(Zool.)
  10. 10.
    The short perpendicular line added to the body of a note; the tail of a crotchet, quaver, semiquaver, etc.(Mus.)
  11. 11.
    The part of an inflected word which remains unchanged (except by euphonic variations) throughout a given inflection; theme; base.(Gram.)
Phrases & compounds
From stem to stern — from one end of the ship to the other, or through the whole length.
Stem leaf — a leaf growing from the stem of a plant, as contrasted with a basal or radical leaf.
04 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.
  1. 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. 2.
    To ram, as clay, into a blasting hole.
05 v. t. 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.
imp. & p. p. Stemmed; p. pr. & vb. n. Stemming
  1. 1.
    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.
    “[They] stem the flood with their erected breasts.” — Denham.
    “Stemmed the wild torrent of a barbarous age.” — Pope.
06 v. i. To move forward against an obstacle, as a vessel against a current.
  1. 1.
    To move forward against an obstacle, as a vessel against a current.
    “Stemming nightly toward the pole.” — Milton.