stem

plural stems

1. The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors.

   While I do pray, learn here thy stem / And true descent.

   1633, George Herbert, Church Monuments

   1 more example

   Where ye may all that are of noble ſtemm / Approach, and kiſs her ſacred veſtures hemm.

   1634, John Milton, “Arcades”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 55

2. A branch of a family.

   This is a stem / Of that victorious stock.

   1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]

   1. biologyA branch, or group of branches, located outside a family or other cladistic group, but which is more closely related to that group than to any other taxon of the same rank.
3. An advanced or leading position; the lookout.

   Wolsey sat at the stem more than twenty years.

   1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI)

4. biologyThe above-ground stalk (technically axis) of a vascular plant, and certain anatomically similar, below-ground organs such as rhizomes, bulbs, tubers, and corms.

   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.

   1736, Sir Walter Raleigh, The History of the World in Five Books

   1 more example

   He had placed her upon the grass by now, her back resting against the stem of a huge tree. At her question he stepped back where he could the better see her face.

   1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 212

5. A slender supporting member of an individual part of a plant such as a flower or a leaf; also, by analogy, the shaft of a feather.

   the stem of an apple or a cherry

   1 more example

   Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.

   2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, pages 206–7

6. A narrow part on certain man-made objects, such as a wine glass, a tobacco pipe, a spoon.
7. human sciencesThe main part of an uninflected word to which affixes may be added to form inflections of the word. A stem often has a more fundamental root. Systematic conjugations and declensions derive from their stems.

   The praenomen and nomen for the most part consisted of simple stems with the suffix -us or -ius, which correspond to some of the contracted forms in other languages […].

   1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiv

8. slangA person's leg.

   She was perfectly, fuckably proportioned everywhere else, both above and below her waist. A pocket-size Venus, with the longest stems he'd ever seen on someone so dang diminutive.

   2008, Lori Wilde, Rhonda Nelson, Cara Summers, August Harlequin Blaze

9. slangThe penis.

   Waves of ecstasy roll through him as the moustachioed Casanova slides his stem in and out of the spaced-out chick.

   2005, Eric Bogosian, Wasted Beauty, page 135

10. mediaA vertical stroke of a letter.
11. entertainmentA vertical stroke marking the length of a note in written music.

    Synonyms: tail, virgula

12. entertainmentA premixed portion of a track for use in audio mastering and remixing.

    1 more example

    Stem mastering processes a mix by breaking it down into several manageable pieces—that is, stereo stems. The stem approach allows the mastering engineer the opportunity to make larger or smaller changes to separate mix elements before the final compression and limiting are applied to the complete mix.

    2019, Karl Pedersen, Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard, The Recording, Mixing, and Mastering Reference Handbook, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 268

13. preciselynauticalThe vertical or nearly vertical forward extension of the keel, to which the forward ends of the planks or strakes are attached.
14. broadlynauticalThe front part of a vessel.

    from stem to stern

    1 more example

    Both we will walke vpon the loftie cliffes, And Chriſtian Merchants that with Ruſſian ſtems Plow vp huge furrowes in the Caſpian ſea, Shall vaile to vs, as Lords of al the Lake.

    c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii

    Synonyms: bow, fore, forestem, prow, beak, prore · Antonyms: stern, aft, poop

15. cyclingA component on a bicycle that connects the handlebars to the bicycle fork.
16. anatomyA part of an anatomic structure considered without its possible branches or ramifications.
17. slangA crack pipe; or the long, hollow portion of a similar pipe (i.e. meth pipe) resembling a crack pipe.
18. UKA winder on a clock, watch, or similar mechanism.

present singular third person stems · participle present stemming · participle past stemmed · past stemmed

1. To remove the stem from.

   to stem cherries; to stem tobacco leaves

2. To be caused or derived; to originate.

   The current crisis stems from the short-sighted politics of the previous government.

   1 more example

   Weight stigma often stems from an idea that patients are at fault for their body size.

   2023 June 2, H Conley, “Studies show top surgery is safe for fat patients, but some surgeons still mandate weight loss”, in STAT

   Synonyms: to be due to, to arise from

3. To descend in a family line.
4. To direct the stem (of a ship) against; to make headway against.

   Nor is the pre-eminent tremendousness of the great Sperm Whale anywhere more feelingly comprehended, than on board of those prows which stem him.

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 41, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 199

5. obsoleteTo hit with the stem of a ship; to ram.

   As when two warlike Brigandines at sea, / With murdrous weapons arm'd to cruell fight, / Doe meete together on the watry lea, / They stemme ech other with so fell despight, / That with the shocke of their owne heedlesse might, / Their wooden ribs are shaken nigh a sonder […]

   1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.ii

6. To ram (clay, etc.) into a blasting hole.

present singular third person stems · participle present stemming · participle past stemmed · past stemmed

1. transitiveTo stop, hinder (for instance, a river or blood).

   to stem a tide

   2 more examples

   [They] stem the flood with their erected breasts.

   1636 (date written), John Denham, “The Destruction of Troy, an Essay upon the Second Book of Virgils Æneis”, in Poems and Translations, with The Sophy, London: […] [John Macock] for H[enry] Herringman […], published 1668, →OCLC

   Stemm'd the wild torrent of a barbarous age.

   1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC

2. hobbiesTo move the feet apart and point the tips of the skis inward in order to slow down the speed or to facilitate a turn.
3. climbingTo use a stance with the feet spread apart, bracing them in opposite directions against the two walls of a chimney or dihedral.

plural stems

1. alternativeAlternative form of steem.

plural stems

1. alternativeAlternative form of STEM.

   Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields are a particular cause for concern because within them there are more pronounced stereotypes, extreme competitiveness and gender inequities regarding the abilities and competencies of black male and female students.

   2015 May 29, BBC News, How do US black students perform at school?

plural stems

1. alternativeAlternative spelling of stemme (“lesbian who combines stud and femme traits”).

plural STEMs

1. abbreviationacronymcountablenatural sciencesAcronym of scanning transmission electron microscope.
2. abbreviationacronymuncountableeducationAcronym of science, technology, engineering, (and) mathematics.

   Table 7 shows that in general, the STEM subjects share more phrases with each other, while the opposite is true for the humanities subjects.

   2018, Clarence Green, James Lambert, “Position vectors, homologous chromosomes and gamma rays: Promoting disciplinary literacy through Secondary Phrase Lists”, in English for Specific Purposes, →DOI, page 10

   2 more examples

   Although these six classifications of the scope and responsibility and specific engineering expertise are interesting and useful, they come from within engineering itself and they don’t help us to disentangle STEM.

   2012 March 22nd, David Blockley, Engineering: A Very Short Introduction (309), Oxford University Press, chapter 1: “From idea to reality”, page 14

   Despite wide efforts to encourage more girls and young women to pursue careers in STEM, a new survey from Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation found Gen Z girls significantly lag behind boys in the level of interest expressed in STEM subjects, suggesting more must be done to close the gender gap.

   2023 December 5, Athena Jones, “Efforts to close gender interest gap in STEM must be stepped up, Gen Z survey shows”, in CNN

plural Stems

1. A surname.