stem Definition

stem¹
noun

1a. The central part of a plant that grows upward from its root;

Thesaurus: stalk, trunk, peduncle, pedicle, pedicel.
1b. The part that connects a leaf, flower or fruit to a branch.
2. Any long slender part, eg of a written letter or musical note, of a wine glass or pipe, of the winder of a watch, etc.

Thesaurus: branch, shoot, stalk, petiole.
3. linguistics.
The base form of a word that inflections are added to; for example love is the stem of loved, lover, lovely, unloved, etc and of luvvie, despite the distortion of the spelling. See also root.
4. genealogy.
The major branch of a family.
5. naut.
The front part of a ship or the curved timber at a ship's prow.

verb, intr stemmed, stemming

1. To originate or derive from it or them.

Example: Resentment stems from their low wages and long hours
Form: stem from something
Form: stem from someone
2. To remove the stems from (fruit, etc).
3. Said of a boat, swimmer, bird, etc: to make headway (through the water, air, etc).

Derivative: stemless
adj

Derivative: stemlet
noun

Derivative: stemmed
adj

Idiom: from stem to stern

From one end of a boat to the other.

Completely.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon stemn.

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stem²
verb stemmed, stemming

1. To stop (the flow of something).

Example: tried to stem the tide of Tory disaffection
Thesaurus: check, contain, curb, restrain, stay, head off, stop; Antonym: encourage, increase.
2. skiing.
To slow down by pushing the heels apart.

noun

1. skiing.
A breaking technique where the heels are pushed apart.
Form: stem turn (also)

Etymology: 15c: from Norse stemma.