Part 778

6. Fig.: An advanced or leading position; the lookout.

Wolsey sat at the stem more than twenty years.

Fuller.

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. (Bot.) That part of a plant which bears leaves, or rudiments of leaves, whether rising above ground or wholly subterranean.

9. (Zoöl.) (a) The entire central axis of a feather. (b) The basal portion of the body of one of the Pennatulacea, or of a gorgonian.

10. (Mus.) The short perpendicular line added to the body of a note; the tail of a crotchet, quaver, semiquaver, etc.

11. (Gram.) The part of an inflected word which remains unchanged (except by euphonic variations) throughout a given inflection; theme; base.

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.

Stem, v. t. 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. To ram, as clay, into a blasting hole.

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.

stem the flood with their erected breasts.

Denham.

Stemmed the wild torrent of a barbarous age.

Pope.

Stem, v. i. To move forward against an obstacle, as a vessel against a current.

Stemming nightly toward the pole.

Milton.

Stem"-clasp`ing (?), a. (Bot.) Embracing the stem with its base; amplexicaul, as a leaf or petiole.

Stem"less, a. Having no stem; (Bot.) acaulescent.

Stem"let (?), n. A small or young stem.

||Stem"ma (?), n.; pl. Stemmata (#). [NL., fr. Gr. &?;, pl. &?;, a ||garland or chaplet.] (Zoöl.) (a) One of the ocelli of an insect. See ||Ocellus. (b) One of the facets of a compound eye of any arthropod.

Stem"mer (?), n. One who, or that which, stems (in any of the senses of the verbs).

Stem"mer*y (?), n. A large building in which tobacco is stemmed. [U. S.] Bartlett.

Stem"my (?), a. Abounding in stems, or mixed with stems; -- said of tea, dried currants, etc. [Colloq.]

Stem"ple (?), n. [G. stempel a stamp, a prop, akin to E. stamp.] (Mining) A crossbar of wood in a shaft, serving as a step.

Stem"son (?), n. [See Stem, n., and Keelson, and cf. Sternson.] (Shipbuilding) A piece of curved timber bolted to the stem, keelson, and apron in a ship's frame near the bow.