Stern
[stɜːn] or [stɝn]
Definition
(noun.) the rear part of a ship.
(noun.) United States concert violinist (born in Russia in 1920).
(adj.) severe and unremitting in making demands; 'an exacting instructor'; 'a stern disciplinarian'; 'strict standards' .
Typist: Ollie--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The black tern.
(superl.) Having a certain hardness or severity of nature, manner, or aspect; hard; severe; rigid; rigorous; austere; fixed; unchanging; unrelenting; hence, serious; resolute; harsh; as, a sternresolve; a stern necessity; a stern heart; a stern gaze; a stern decree.
(v. t.) The helm or tiller of a vessel or boat; also, the rudder.
(v. t.) The after or rear end of a ship or other vessel, or of a boat; the part opposite to the stem, or prow.
(v. t.) Fig.: The post of management or direction.
(v. t.) The hinder part of anything.
(v. t.) The tail of an animal; -- now used only of the tail of a dog.
(a.) Being in the stern, or being astern; as, the stern davits.
Editor: Lucia
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Forbidding, austere, severe, rigid.[2]. Harsh, cruel, bitter, rigorous, strict, hard, unrelenting, inflexible, uncompromising.
n. Hinder part (of a vessel).
Editor: Louise
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Severe, austere, rigid, harsh, strict, rigorous, unrelenting, unyielding,forbidding
ANT:Lenient, genial, kindly, easy, flexible, encouraging
Typist: Paul
Definition
adj. severe of countenance manner or feeling: austere: harsh: unrelenting: steadfast.—adv. Stern′ly.—n. Stern′ness.
n. the hind-part of a vessel: the rump or tail of an animal.—v.t. to back a boat to row backward.—ns. Stern′age (Shak.) the steerage or stern of a ship; Stern′board backward motion of a ship: loss of way in tacking; Stern′-chase a chase in which one ship follows directly in the wake of another; Stern′-chās′er a cannon in the stern of a ship.—adj. Sterned having a stern of a specified kind.—ns. Stern′-fast a rope or chain for making fast a ship's stern to a wharf &c.; Stern′-frame the sternpost transoms and fashion-pieces of a ship's stern.—adj. Stern′most farthest astern.—ns. Stern′port a port or opening in the stern of a ship; Stern′post the aftermost timber of a ship which supports the rudder; Stern′sheets the part of a boat between the stern and the rowers; Stern′son the hinder extremity of a ship's keelson to which the sternpost is bolted; Stern′way the backward motion of a vessel; Stern′-wheel′er (U.S.) a small vessel with one large paddle-wheel at the stern.
Typed by Gus
Examples
- Jaelthe stern woman; sat apart, relenting somewhat over her captive; but more prone to dwell on the faithful expectation of Heber coming home. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- He cleared his vision with his sleeve, and the melting mood over, a very stern one followed. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- The paddles were placed in the middle of the boat, near the stern; and there was a double rudder, connected together by rods which were moved by a winch at the head of the vessel. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- If I do--Well, said madame, drawing a breath and nodding her head with a stern kind of coquetry, I'll use it! Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- The boat had a single paddle wheel in the middle near the stern, and was intended only for canal use, in the place of horses. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- By strange stern ways, and through much staining blood, those feet had come to meet that water. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- I went back to the stern and showed her how to hold the oar. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- She was little changed; something sterner, something more robust--but she was my godmother: still the distinct vision of Mrs. Bretton. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Not the best opinion of the sterner sex? Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- For a brief time I wandered, in the sweet guiding of love, far from the purpose to which I had been true under sterner discipline and in darker days. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- She saw nothing, but her son a little paler, a little sterner than usual. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- Nor did he neglect the sterner duties of life while following the bent of his inclination toward the solving of the mystery of his library. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- I need a sterner dream. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Perhaps it would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I meant it for the best. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- It is usually so, except with the sternest of men. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- To this woman he gave Moore in charge, with the sternest injunctions respecting the responsibility laid on her shoulders. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
Inputed by Lennon