Stem
[stem] or [stɛm]
Definition
(noun.) the tube of a tobacco pipe.
(verb.) remove the stem from; 'for automatic natural language processing, the words must be stemmed'.
(verb.) stop the flow of a liquid; 'staunch the blood flow'; 'stem the tide'.
(verb.) grow out of, have roots in, originate in; 'The increase in the national debt stems from the last war'.
(verb.) cause to point inward; 'stem your skis'.
Typist: Rudy--From WordNet
Definition
(v. i.) Alt. of Steem
(n.) Alt. of Steem
(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.
(n.) 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.
(n.) The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors.
(n.) A branch of a family.
(n.) 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.
(n.) Fig.: An advanced or leading position; the lookout.
(n.) 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.
(n.) That part of a plant which bears leaves, or rudiments of leaves, whether rising above ground or wholly subterranean.
(n.) The entire central axis of a feather.
(n.) The basal portion of the body of one of the Pennatulacea, or of a gorgonian.
(n.) The short perpendicular line added to the body of a note; the tail of a crotchet, quaver, semiquaver, etc.
(n.) The part of an inflected word which remains unchanged (except by euphonic variations) throughout a given inflection; theme; base.
(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.
(v. t.) To ram, as clay, into a blasting hole.
(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.
(v. i.) To move forward against an obstacle, as a vessel against a current.
Typist: Ronald
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Trunk (of a tree), main stock.[2]. Peduncle, pedicel, petiole, stalk.[3]. Branch, shoot, scion.[4]. (Naut.) Forepart (of a ship), prow, beak, bow.[5]. (Mus.) Tail (of a note).
v. a. [1]. Oppose (as a current), resist, breast, withstand, bear up against, make head against.[2]. Stop, check.
Inputed by Katrina
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Oppose, breast, withstand, obstruct, confront,[See ABODE_and_PROP]
Checker: Tina
Definition
n. the ascending axis of a plant which usually bears leaves and flowers and maintains communication between the roots and the leaves: the little branch supporting the flower or fruit: a race or family: branch of a family.—n. Stem′-leaf a leaf growing from the stem.—adj. Stem′less (bot.) wanting a stem or having it so little developed as to seem to be wanting.—ns. Stem′let a little or young stem; Stem′ma a pedigree or family tree: an ocellus.—adjs. Stem′matous; Stemmed.
n. the prow of a ship: a curved piece of timber at the prow to which the two sides of a ship are united.—v.t. to cut as with the stem: to resist or make progress against: to stop to check:—pr.p. stem′ming; pa.t. and pa.p. stemmed.—From stem to stern from one end of a vessel to the other: completely throughout.
Edited by Hardy
Examples
- The bulb was first heated and the stem placed in water. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- After making her fast, they swarmed the sides and searched the vessel from stem to stern. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- There was none: all was interwoven stem, columnar trunk, dense summer foliage--no opening anywhere. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Moreover, as he darned he smoked a pipe, the stem and bowl of which were red also. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- For fully five hundred feet I continued to climb, until at length I reached the opening in the stem which admitted the light. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- You acted as I should have expected you to act, said Dorothea, her face brightening and her head becoming a little more erect on its beautiful stem. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- She came swiftly out to us, as straight as a lily on its stem, and as lithe and supple in every movement she made as a young cat. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Hence I was led to dry the stems and branches of ninety-four plants with ripe fruit, and to place them on sea-water. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- Manila hemp is obtained from the leaf stalks of the Philippine plant known as the Abacá, the leaf stems of which are compressed together, and constitute the trunk of the plant. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- By this movement the stems are inclined to all sides, and are made to move round and round. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- It was the united products of infinitesimal vegetable causes, and these were neither stems, leaves, fruit, blades, prickles, lichen, nor moss. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- He also had earthenware drums across which skins were stretched; perhaps also he made drums by stretching skins over hollow tree stems. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- See what stems from that. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- As far aloft as I could see the stems and branches and twigs were as smooth and as highly polished as the newest of American-made pianos. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- Many of these plants took the form of huge-stemmed trees, of which great multitudes of trunks survive fossilized to this day. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Sadly and slowly I stemmed my course from among the heaps of slain, and, guided by the twinkling lights of the town, at length reached Rodosto. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Picturesque Arabs sat upon the ground, in groups, and solemnly smoked their long-stemmed chibouks. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Venn moved his elbow towards a hollow in which a dense brake of purple-stemmed brambles had grown to such vast dimensions as almost to form a dell. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
Checked by Gerald