| 释义 |
▪ I. stem, n.1|stɛm|
Forms: 1 stefn, stemn, 6–7 stemme, 7 steame, stemm, 4– stem.
[OE. stęmn, stęfn str. masc. (for the corresponding forms in continental Teut. see stem n.2):—OTeut. *stamni-z; a parallel and synonymous OTeut. formation (*stamno-z) is represented by (M)LG., (M)Du., OHG., MHG. stam (mod.G. stamm) masc., trunk or stem of a tree (so Sw. stam, Da. stamme, from German); also by OS. stamn (? masc.), ON. stamn, stafn neut., which are recorded only in the derived sense = stem n.2 The word is prob. f. the root *sta- to stand + -mn- suffix; cf. Gr. στάµνος earthen jar (? lit. ‘standing vessel’). The ON. and OE. stofn (see stoven) tree-stump is prob. unconnected.
It is remarkable that between the OE. period and the 16th c. only a single instance of the word has been found (quot. 1338 in sense 1 b).]
1. a. The main body (usually more or less cylindrical) of the portion above ground of a tree, shrub, or other plant; a trunk, stock, stalk. (Ordinarily implying a greater degree of slenderness than stock or trunk.)
c888ælfred Boeth. xxxiv. §10 He onᵹinð of þæm wyrtrumum & swa upweardes grewð oð ðone stemn. a1000Sal. & Sat. 296 (Gr.) Beam heo abreoteð..astyreð standendne stefn on siðe. 1538Elyot Dict., Caulis, a stalke or stem of an herbe or tree. 1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 111/1 Scapus,..the stocke, or stemme. 1688Holme Armoury ii. 84/2 The Stem, or Trunk, is the body of the tree to the branches. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 393 From one Root the rising Stem bestows A Wood of Leaves, and Vi'let-purple Boughs. 1712tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 36 Cinquefoil..produces its Leaves,..on a Stem or Wire. 1773Mrs. Barbauld Hymn, ‘Praise to God’ 22 Should rising whirl⁓winds tear From its stem the ripening ear. 1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 84 Stem (stipes) formerly called the pillar, which supports the pileus of some of the Fungi. 1818Shelley Rosal. & Helen 1292 When the living stem Is cankered in its heart, the tree must fall. 1831Macgillivray tr. A. Richard's Elem. Bot. ii. 103 Many herbaceous stems are employed as food for man and animals. 1833Tennyson Lotos-Eaters 28 Branches they bore of that enchanted stem, Laden with flower and fruit. 1850Miss Pratt Comm. Things Sea-side i. 18 The sea eryngo (Eryngium maritimum) has a stem about a foot high. 1909G. W. Young in Contemp. Rev. Apr., Suppl. 2 The dark solemn stems in dim-seen lines Stand sentinel.
b. fig.
c888ælfred Boeth. xxxiv. §5 Þeah is an God; se is stemn & staðol eallra goda. 1338R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 296 Þe bisshop of Durham trauailed day & nyght, Of strife to felle þe stem. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xvii. §56 King Edward..thought it no policy long to delay, lest Henry should take growth to a bigger steame. 1659W. Chamberlayne Pharonnida iv. 94 That short stem of nature, life.
c. Bot. The ascending axis (whether above or below ground) of a plant, in contradistinction to the descending axis or root. (The various kinds of subterraneous stem, the bulb, rhizome, tuber, etc., are popularly regarded as ‘roots.’)
1807J. E. Smith Phys. Bot. 116 The Stem is either simple, as in the White Lily, or branched, as in most instances. 1855Miss Pratt Flower. Plants VI. 140 The true stem of the fern..from its resemblance to a root is termed the rhizoma.
†d. Occasionally, a branch or shoot, in contradistinction to the stock. Obs.
1584Greene Arbasto Wks. (Grosart) III. 205 We think he little fauoreth the stems that cutteth downe the olde stocke.
2. a. The stalk supporting a leaf, flower, or fruit; a peduncle, pedicel or petiole.
1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 211 Two louely berries molded on one stem. 1667Milton P.L. vii. 337 Each Plant of the field, which e're it was in the Earth God made, and every Herb, before it grew On the green stemm. 1781Cowper Retirement 179 The fruits that hang on pleasure's flow'ry stem. 1820Shelley Sensit. Plant iii. 40 Till they [weeds] clung round many a sweet flower's stem.
b. transf. in Anat. and Path.
1861Pritchard Hist. Infusoria (ed. 4) 586 Vorticella..Body bell-shaped,..supported on a highly contractile, unbranched pedicle or stem. 1862W. Thomson in Phil. Trans. CLV. 536 The mature Antedon has no true stem. 1898J. Hutchinson in Arch. Surg. IX. 372 A dilated arteriole always enters the stem of a wart. 1912Keith Human Body ii. 26 When they [the cerebral hemispheres] are raised from the floor or base of the skull we see a great stem—the brain stem—issuing from them.
c. (See quot.)
1905Dundee Advertiser 15 July 6 The stem, to give the banana its trade name.
3. a. The stock of a family; the main line of descent from which the ‘branches’ of a family are offshoots; the descendants of a particular ancestor. Also abstr., ancestry, pedigree.
In the 16th and 17th c. commonly associated with L. stemma, in pl. a genealogical tree, pedigree: see stemma.
c1540tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. viii. (Camden 36) 279 The regall stemme and pedegree was allmost utterlie extinguished. 1586J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 2 To intreate of the honours, dignities, stemmes, and atchieuments, of certaine personages, nobly discended in England and France. 1586Hooker Giraldus' Irish Hist. 17/2 in Holinshed, Dardanus the sonne of Jupiter, from whom is deriued vnto vs not onlie the stemme of ancient nobilitie, but also [etc.]. a1599Spenser F.Q. vii. vi. 2 Whom, though high Ioue of kingdome did depriue, Yet many of their stemme long after did surviue. c1610Women Saints 80 This happie branch of that vertuous stemme. 1611Bible Isa. xi. 1 There shall come forth a rod out of the stemme of Iesse. 1640Howell Dodona's Grove 72 The Imperiall diademe..hath continued these two Ages and more yeares in that stemme which is now so much spoken of. a1645Milton Arcades 82 Where ye may all that are of noble stemm Approach. 1652Heylin Cosmogr. iii. 155 Jarres..of brothers..not only in private families, but in the stems of Princes. 1697Evelyn Numism. viii. 290 Stems and Genealogies of the most Renowned Princes of Germany. 1763Churchill Confer. 15 Recent men who came From stems unknown, and sires without a name. 1781Cowper Expost. 460 The rich, the produce of a nobler stem, Are more intelligent at least. 1818Shelley Hymn Venus 52 Mortal offspring from a deathless stem. 1827Scott Highl. Widow v, Allan Breack is a wise man and a kind one, and comes of a good stem.
b. An ethnic stock, a race.
c1540tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. vii. (Camden 36) 258 Emonge whome the Danishe governement beganne longe beefore to bee verie tedius and hatefull, as a thinge moste exitiall and pestilent to the Englishe name and stemme. 1613–16W. Browne Brit. Past ii. v, Cannot I dye but like that brutish stem Which have their best belov'd to die with them. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits iv. Wks. (Bohn) II. 22 Neither do this people appear to be of one stem; but collectively a better race than any from which they are derived. 1861Pearson Early & Mid. Ages 90 The trial of strength which would certainly have taken place had all the invading people been of one stem. 1868Gladstone Juv. Mundi ii. (1870) 32 The relation between this older race and the Hellenic tribes leads to the conclusion that both alike were derived from the Aryan stem.
†c. The primal ancestor or founder of a family.
1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies vi. xx. 474 The first whom they make the head and steame of this family, was called Ingaroca. 1780Mirror No. 103 The stem of it..was a Norman baron, who came over with the Conqueror.
†d. [fig. use of 1 d.] A branch or offshoot of a family. Obs.
1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, ii. v. 41 And now declare sweet Stem from Yorkes great Stock, Why didst thou [etc.]. 1599― Hen. V, ii. iv. 62 This is a Stem Of that Victorious Stock. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 365 Coberley, a seat of a stem of Barkeleies. 1634W. Wood New Eng. Prosp. Ded. Note, Blessings..be multiplied upon your selfe, your vertuous Consort, my very good Lady, together with all the Stemmes of your Noble family.
4. Applied to various objects resembling the stem of a plant or of a flower, etc. (Cf. stalk n.1 4, 5.)
a. Calligraphy and Printing. The upright stroke of a letter.
1676Moxon Print Letters 6 The Stem is the straight fat stroke of the Letter; as in B the upright stroke on the left hand is the Stem. 1685Matlock Fax Nova Artis Scrib. 25 The Length of the tallest Stemms [in Court-Hand], viz. of [b, h, k, l, and w] be One Fourth of an Inch. 1790W. Nicholson in Repert. Arts (1796) V. 147 Instead of leaving a space in the mould for the stem of one letter only. 1899De Vinne Pract. Typogr. (1902) 30 The body mark, or stem, is the thick line of the face which most clearly indicates the character and the height of the letter. It is better known among printers as the thick-stroke.
b. Mus. The vertical line forming part of a minim, crotchet, quaver, etc.
1806J. W. Callcott Mus. Gram. i. 2 The Notes of Music consist generally of the parts, a Head and a Stem. 1873H. C. Banister Music 256 When other notes than semibreves are used, the stems, on each stave, should be turned contrary ways.
c. The long cylindrical body of an instrument, etc., as distinguished from the ‘head’, or from branches or projections; the tube of a thermometer or similar instrument; the tube of a tobacco-pipe.
1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 89 When the stem in Fahrenheit's hydrometer is long, the weight put in the dish at the top, will sometimes render the instrument unsteady. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. iv. (1842) 136 Thermometers are generally graduated by having two points marked upon their stems, corresponding to the melting temperature of ice and the boiling temperature of pure water. 1843Holtzapffel Turning I. 213 A piece of bolt-iron of five-eighths of an inch diameter, or of the size of the stem of the bolt, is cut off somewhat longer than the intended length. 1843Dickens Christmas Carol iv. 131 The old man..having trimmed his smoky lamp..with the stem of his pipe. 1851in Abridgm. Specif. Patents Locks etc. (1873) 87 The convenience offered by thus having the ‘bit’ of the key separate from the stem. 1869Rankine Machine & Hand-tools Pl. P 22, On the lower end of this boss is formed the socket, s, for the reception of the stem, t, of the pick, u. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2373 Stem (Valve), the projecting-rod which guides a valve in its reciprocations. Ibid., Stem (Vehicle), the bar to which the bow of a falling hood is hinged. 1892Photogr. Ann. II. 83 A cork, bored with two holes, through one of which passes the stem of a globular funnel.
d. The upright cylindrical support of a cup, a wineglass, or other vessel.
1835Dickens Sk. Boz, Publ. Dinners, Several gentlemen knock the stems off their wine-glasses, in the vehemence of their approbation. 1850J. Marryat Pottery & Porcelain 288 Stem. Culot, Fr., that portion of a vase which unites the body to the base, and is simple, elongated, shortened, or variously fashioned. 1883H. J. Powell Princ. Glass-Making 61 Wine-glasses or goblets are classified by the nature of their stems, or by the nature of their feet. 1870F. R. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 90 The stem [of the font] is composed of a portion of a Saxon cross.
e. Arch. (See quot.)
1835R. Willis Archit. Mid. Ages vii. 108 Where a pier is made up of four cylindrical shafts attached to a nucleus or stem, this nucleus and the lateral shafts carry the longitudinal arches.
f. dial. (See quot.)
1796W. H. Marshall W. Eng. I. 330 Stem, the handle of a fork. 1838Holloway Prov. Dict., Stem, a long round shaft used as a handle for various tools.
g. Watchmaking. The pendant-shank of a watch.
1866in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Watches, etc. (1871) 157 Instead of the push piece consisting of a rod passing up the centre of the pendant stem. 1871Ibid. 156 The pendant is so arranged that the bow or stem cannot be wrenched off by torsion. 1881F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. Handbk. (ed. 4) 73 The part of the winding stem below the bevelled pinion is square. 1885D. Glasgow Watch & Clock Making 262 The stem is fitted easy in the pendant.
h. The shaft of a hair, of a feather.
1845Encycl. Metropol. VII. 197/2 The Hair-shaft, Stem or Cylinder, caulis, filamentum, truncus pili, is that part commonly called the hair. Ibid. 205/1 The Shaft or Stem [of a feather], rachis, though usually described as distinct, might not improperly be considered as a continuation of the barrel.
i. pl. The legs. slang.
1860Hotten Dict. Slang (ed. 2) 227 Stems, the legs. 1927Vanity Fair XXIX. 67/2 Among some of Conway's more famous expressions are:..‘Stems’ and ‘Gambs’ (legs). 1970C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 109 Stems, the legs.
j. More fully drill stem: (a) (also auger stem) in percussion drilling, a heavy metal rod above the bit in a string of tools, used to provide added weight; (b) in rotary drilling, = grief stem below; also, the entire drilling column; grief stem: in rotary drilling, the rod at the top of the drilling column, having a square cross-section so that it fits in and is turned by the rotary table; = kelly n.2 4.
drill-stem test: a test of the potential of a well in which a sample of the oil or gas is allowed to run into the drill pipe for a short time before the hole is completed, the flow being measured and the fluid recovered; so drill-stem testing vbl. n.
1880J. F. Carll Geol. Oil Regions Warren, Venango, Clarion & Butler Counties III. xxviii. 300 On the down stroke the auger-stem falls 20 inches, while the sinker-bar goes down 24 inches. 1907Internat. Libr. Technol.: Rock Boring 13 The tools consist of a rope socket, sinker bar, jars, stem, and bit. Ibid. 15 Auger or Drill Stem.—This part of the string of tools..is made about 30 feet long in some cases. 1922B. Redwood Petroleum (ed. 4) II. 402 The lower end of the drilling-rod or casing with the bit is passed through the rotary table provided with grip rings or square ‘grief’ stem and clamped tight enough to cause it to revolve. 1938D. Hager Practical Oil Geol. (ed. 5) viii. 252 After drilling into an oil stratum, some idea of productivity may be gained by making a drill-stem test. 1939― Fund. Petroleum Industry ix. 210 When the kelly is deep enough for a joint of drill stem, the kelly and bit are pulled out. 1951K. K. Landes Petroleum Geol. ii. 51 The string of tools consists of the bit..; the stem, into which the bit fits; the jars; and the socket. 1962E. J. Lynch Formation Evaluation viii. 291 Drill stem testing is the most hazardous of all drilling operations. 1965E. Lehner et al. in G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. xix. 350/2 Both the Taramakau and Arahura wells..encountered faint traces of oil in the Brunner Sandstone at 5,700 ft and 5,030 ft respectively, but drill-stem tests of these zones yielded only salt water. 1973J. W. Jenner in Hobson & Pohl Mod. Petroleum Technol. (ed. 4) iv. 108 A drilling bit..is attached to a heavy drill stem suspended by a cable from a cantilever arm, the Walking Beam, at the surface. 1976L. St. Clair Fortune in Death i. 8 The drill stem had snapped... ‘Stem crystalize?’ ‘Yep. Damned basalt is hard as the drill.’
k. Similarly, a drill used by a burglar or safe-breaker. U.S. Criminals' slang.
1914Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 81 Stem, noun. Current among yeggs. A steel drill. 1926J. Black You can't Win x. 133 Get the ‘dan’ and ‘stems’ (drills), and put them safely away. 1935Flynn's 16 Mar. 102/1, I was inserting a ‘stem’ (drill) in a brace when I heard a most peculiar noise.
5. Philol.
†a. The primary word from which a derivative is formed. Obs.
a1653Gouge Comm. Hebr. viii. 6 The noun (λειτουργία) translated ‘ministry’ is derived from the same stemme that ‘minister’ (λειτουργός) was.
b. That part of an inflected word that remains unchanged (except for euphonic variations) in the process of inflexion; the theme of a word (or of a particular group of its cases or tenses), to which the flexional suffixes are attached.
1851T. H. Key in Trans. Philol. Soc. 93 We refer to such stems as ..βα and βαν of εβησα and βαινω. 1865Malden Ibid. 169 All first perfects, except those in which the suffix κα is attached to a stem ending in a vowel. 1871[see present-stem s.v. present n.1 3 c].
c. Applied to a Semitic triliteral ‘root’. Also attrib.
1874Davidson Hebr. Gram. xvi. 31 Stems in Hebrew are considered to contain three consonantal letters. The noun may be regarded as expressing the stem idea in rest.
6. a. A principal railway line, from which other tracks may branch; = main stem.
1832[see main stem]. 1869Bradshaw's Railway Man. XXI. 426 Assets. Main Stem..Lebanon Branch extension..Richmond Branch. 1934in Amer. Ballads & Folk Songs i. 24 The manifest freight Pulled out on the stem behind the mail.
b. A street, esp. one frequented by beggars and tramps (see also quot. 1923); also, = main street a; transf., an act of begging. U.S. slang.
1914[see mooch v. 6]. 1923N. Anderson Hobo i. 4 Every large city has its district into which these homeless types gravitate. In the parlance of the ‘road’ such a section is known as the ‘stem’ or the ‘main drag’. 1929Amer. Speech IV. 345 Stem, act of begging; also a street where one begs. 1931‘D. Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route v. 59 The hobo also damns the hash houses along the stem. 1936New Republic 15 July 289/1 The appearance of the applicant is perhaps not so important as in the case of private residences or on the ‘stem’. 1955D. W. Maurer in Publ. Amer. Dialect Soc. xxiv. 133 This is all done on the stem or street.
7. Short for stem-stitch (see 9).
1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 461 To work Beginner's Stem: This stitch is used to form the stalks of leaves, or [etc.]. Ibid., Buckle Stem differs from Stem Stitch by being worked with a Plain Edge upon both sides, [etc.].
8. attrib. and Comb.: (sense 1) stem-bark, stem-climber, stem-fruiting, stem-growth, stem-leaf, stem-like adj., stem-node, stem-selecting adj., stem-sucker, stem-tendril, stem-wood; (sense 2 b) stem-joint, stem process; (sense 5 b) stem-form, stem-formant, stem-suffix, stem-vowel; stem-final, stem-formative, stem-initial adjs. (all also absol. as n.); stem-forming adj.
1832Planting 7 in Lib. Usef. Kn., Husb. III, During this conversion of the *stem-bark to that of the root the plant advances but little.
1875*Stem-climbers [see tendril n. 3].
1949E. A. Nida Morphology (ed. 2) ii. 34 All *stem-final vowels before vowel suffixes are lost. 1965Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics X. 130 It seems that Chipewyan and Navaho treat it as a stem final, while Mattole treats it as a stem initial. 1973A. H. Sommerstein Sound Pattern Anc. Greek ii. 17 There is a large class of nouns ending, in the nominative singular, in -εύς [-éws]..which have a stem-final [w] when a consonant follows.
1928O. Jespersen Internat. Lang. ii. 97 The bare *stem-form of many adjectives would not be euphonious enough. 1966English Studies XLVII. 53 These genetive [sic] ‘causative’ objects disappear in early ME and give place to objects in stem-form or prepositional types.
1935G. K. Zipf Psycho-Biol. of Lang. iv. 144 A *stem-formative (or stem-formant) is a morpheme added to the root either at the beginning (prefix) or at the end (suffix) or tucked inside (infix) to make the stem (root plus formant) to which endings are added. 1964K. L. Pike in D. Abercombie et al. Daniel Jones 428 The stem is made up of three monosyllabic roots plus three following stem-formative syllables.
1968Chomsky & Halle Sound Pattern Eng. 130 In short, there are ‘*stem-forming’ vowels /i/ and /u/ which are deleted in final position..but which remain before certain affixes. 1978Language LIV. 220 Most stem-forming suffixes consist of a single segment, and a certain amount of homophony results.
1821S. F. Gray Brit. Plants I. 43 *Stem-fruiting, caulocarpæ. The fruit growing on the stem.
1868Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 257 When the vertical *stem-growth is three or more inches in each sapling, the work may be reduced.
1949E. A. Nida Morphology (ed. 2) ii. 15 When *stem-initial consonants are aspirated, the reduplicated consonant has the same point of articulation, except that it is unaspirated. 1965[see stem-final above]. 1977Word 1972 XXVIII. 223 The inappropriate stem-initial consonants.
1862W. Thomson in Phil. Trans. CLV. 528 The sheaf-like calcareous cylinders which form the axes of the *stem-joints.
1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 84 *Stem-Leaves (caulina) such as grow immediately upon the stem, without the intervention of branches. 1870Hooker Stud. Flora 32 Stem-leaves broadly ovate.
1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vii. ix. 238 Whose *stemlike draught annexed, both in the marriages, issues, and collaterals, are therein branched as farre as any warrantable Records affordeth. 1855Orr's Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat. 87 A singular but very abundant stem-like fossil.
1882Vines tr. Sachs' Bot. 293 Each leaf begins with a node (the basal node), by which it is united with the *stem-node.
1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 521 The branches of the *stem process (neuraxon) of a neuron may offer a cross-section 370,000 times greater than that of the parent stem.
1837P. Keith Bot. Lex. 287 The false parasites, or *stem-selecting epiphytes, belong chiefly to the tribe of the Epidendra or Air-plants.
1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 279 The branches of a coniferous plant pegged down to force it to throw up a *stem-sucker as a leader.
1902Greenough & Kittredge Words 169 The exact nature of *stem-suffixes is far from certain.
1877A. W. Bennett Thomé's Bot. (1879) 109 According as they belong to the stem..or to the leaf..they are called *stem- or leaf-tendrils.
1852Proc. Philol. Soc. V. 197 The weakening of a strong *stem-vowel by virtue of a weak vowel in the suffix.
1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 155 The differences between the wood of the root and that of the branches..are as regards the width of the tracheides even greater than in the case of the *stem-wood.
9. Special comb.: stem analysis Forestry, (an) investigation of the past growth of a tree by study of a series of cross-sections of its trunk taken at different heights; stem-bed Geol., a stratum containing stems of trees; † stem-book [ad. G. stammbuch, Du. stamboek], an album; stem borer, an insect larva that bores into plant stems; stem-bud Bot. (see quot.); stem-building Gram. [tr. G. stammbau], the formation of stems from roots; stem cell Biol., (a) a cell in the stem of an organism (nonce-use); (b) a cell of a multicellular organism which is capable of giving rise to indefinitely more cells of the same type and from which certain other kinds of cell arise by differentiation; stem-clasping a. (see quot.); stem-composition Philol., composition of word-stems, as distinguished from syntactical combination of words; stem-cup, a Chinese porcelain goblet of a type with a wide shallow bowl mounted on a short base, first made in the Ming dynasty; stem-eelworm, a nematoid causing stem-sickness in certain plants; stem-end, that end of a fruit that is next to the stem; stem family Sociol. [tr. F. famille-souche (F. le Play La Réforme Sociale en France (1866) I. iii. 249)], a family unit in which property descends to a married son who remains within the household, other (esp. married) children achieving independence on receipt of an inheritance; stem-father [cf. G. stammvater], a tribal ancestor; stemflow Forestry, precipitation which reaches the ground after running down the branches and trunks of trees; stem-fly (see quot.); stem ginger, a superior grade of crystallized or preserved ginger; stem-glass, (a) a tall narrow glass vase for the display of a single flower or flowers; (b) a drinking-glass mounted on a stem; stem-house nonce-wd. [after G. stammhaus] the ancestral mansion of a family; stem-line, (a) the upright line (edge of a tablet, etc.) on which the strokes forming the Ogham alphabet are set; (b) a line of genealogical descent; (c) (stemline) Med., the group of cells having a chromosome number that is (one of) the most frequent in a mixed population, esp. of tumour cells; stem mother Ent. = fundatrix 2; stem-muscle, pessary, (see quots.); stem root, a root that develops from the stem of a plant, esp. on a lily from just above the top of the bulb; so stem-rooting a., producing roots of this kind; stem rust, any of various fungus diseases of plants that produce spots on the stems; esp. that caused by Puccinia graminis on wheat and other cereals, marked by rows of black telia on the stems; stem sawfly (see quots.); stem-setting a. U.S., (of a watch) that is set by rotation of a stem (1895 in Funk's Stand. Dict.); stem-sick a., (of plants) having the stems affected by a malady produced by the eelworm; hence stem-sickness; stem stitch Needlework (see quot. 1882); also used more widely in Embroidery; stem succulent, a plant chiefly native to dry regions, distinguished by a fleshy stem and often very small leaves or spines; stemware, stemmed glass drinking-vessels; stem-wind a. U.S. = stem-winding a.; stem-winder U.S. (a) a keyless watch; (b) a geared logging locomotive (Webster, 1911); (c) slang, a person or thing that is first-rate; also, an enterprising or energetic person; an impassioned talker or public speaker; (d) slang, a rousing speech; stem-winding n. (see quot.); stem-winding a. U.S. (of a watch) that is wound up by means of a stem; also transf.
1895W. Schlich Man. Forestry III. i. vi. 83 The investigation of the progress of increment throughout the life of a tree is called a *stem analysis. 1974Forest Sci. XX. 75/2 In the comparisons to be discussed, three sets of stem analysis data were used, one for noble fir, one for Douglas-fir, and one for red alder.
1853J. Morris in Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. IX. 338 Clays between the above [oyster-bed and marly rock] and the *stem-bed.
1592Moryson Let. in Itin. (1617) i. 38 Desiring to have the name of so famous a Divine, written in my *stemme-booke, with his Mott, after the Dutch fashion.
1921H. T. Fernald Appl. Entom. xxxiii. 340 Superfamily Tenthredinoidea (The Saw-flies and *Stem Borers). 1939Geogr. Jrnl. XCIII. 140 The crop [of rice] would be destroyed by rats and stem⁓borers. 1972J. Minifie Homesteader xv. 121 The Manitoba maple was subject to a stem-borer which destroyed its growing tips.
1877A. W. Bennett Thomé's Bot. (1879) 71 The *stem-bud, or plumule, is divided from the outset into stem and leaves.
1870J. F. Smith Ewald's Introd. Hebr. Gram. 91 *Stem-building I. Of Verbs.
1885A. Sedgwick tr. Claus' Text-bk. Zool. II. 79 Ctenostomata..*Stem-cells and root-filaments frequently occur. 1896E. B. Wilson Cell iii. 111 In Ascaris megalocephala univalens..each of the first two cells receives two elongated chromosomes... In one of them, which is destined to produce only somatic cells, the thickened ends of each chromosome..degenerate... In the other cell, which may be called the stem-cell.., all the chromatin is preserved and the chromosomes do not segment into smaller pieces. 1959W. Andrew Textbk. Compar. Histol. vi. 234 The cells of this organ, while they include many lymphocytes, apparently serve as stem cells for all of the types of white corpuscles. 1970Sci. Jrnl. June 32/3 The production of a continuous supply of spermatozoa from the testis is ensured by the continued existence of germ cells which form a reservoir of stem cells from which future spermatozoa are derived.
1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 84 *Stem-clasping (amplexicaulis)..embracing the stem. 1866Treas. Bot. 1094/1 Stem clasping, when the base of a leaf surrounds a stem. The same as Amplexicaul.
1902Greenough & Kittredge Words 177 By this process of *stem-composition a kind of rudimentary syntax arose. 1912W. H. Stevenson in Eng. Hist. Rev. Jan. 22 The Old English dialects adhering to the older (Indo-Germanic) and more proper stem-composition.
1915R. L. Hobson Chinese Pottery & Porcelain II. xii. 208 In the Bushell collection there are some beautiful reproductions of the Ch‘êng Hua ‘*stem-cups’. 1942Burlington Mag. June 151/2 The part of the base immediately below the stem⁓cup is a rather squat form of the Venetian bell base. 1980Catal. Fine Chinese Ceramics (Sotheby, Hong Kong) 36 A Longquan (Lung Ch'üan) Celadon stemcup with plain circular bowl raised on a ribbed columnar foot.
1890E. A. Ormerod Injur. Insects (ed. 2) 51 *Stem eelworm. Tylenchus devastatrix.
1868Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 240 Cut, halved lengthwise, then across, *stem end.
1936Zimmerman & Frampton Family & Society vii. 125 The *stem-family..unites one married child to the paternal household, and supplies all the other offspring in a ‘state of independence [with a dowry] which the patriarchal family does not give them’. 1947P. H. Landis Your Marriage & Family Living i. 5 The stem family is about halfway between the great family of historic rural societies and the small, individualistic family of urban industrial societies. 1977P. Laslett Family Life & Illicit Love in Earlier Generations v. 211 In certain eighteenth-century areas of Austria and Germany, where a stem family arrangement prevailed..the old were allotted a familial situation which gave to retirement an institutional form.
1879Encycl. Brit. IX. 75/1 The Leinster and Meath Fenians, consisting of the Clanna Baiscné, from a *stem-father Bascné.
1941Jrnl. Forestry XXXIX. 521/1 *Stemflow, although apparently not related to crown-length density, tree height, basal area, or crown area, does tend to increase with excess or deficit of height of tree as compared with adjacent trees. 1967M. E. Hale Biol. Lichens vii. 96 Stemflow on trees..has been shown to be enriched, relative to throughflow, with potassium and calcium. 1980Spurr & Barnes Forest Ecol. (ed. 3) ix. 230 Airborne dust, ash, and gaseous aerosols may also become attached to or impacted on tree surfaces and carried to the soil as throughfall and stem flow.
1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 951 The wheat *stem-fly, Chlorops pumilionis,..derives its specific name,..in consequence of the effects it produces on the plants it attacks.
1922A. Ward Encycl. Food 224 Crystallized ginger is also made from the young roots. The best grades, selected for uniform size and appearance, are called ‘*stem ginger’. 1977Times 2 Sept. 10/5 The menu offers..bananas with stem ginger.
1922Joyce Ulysses 224 He took a red carnation from the tall stem⁓glass. 1974L. Deighton Spy Story xvii. 187 A stem glass from the ice-box, really cold Beefeater and..seven per cent dry vermouth. 1979B. Hines Price of Coal i. 14 He..took down a tinted stem-glass..[and] selected his favourite bloom.
1762tr. Busching's Syst. Geog. IV. 408 Nesselrod, the *stem-house of the ancient noble family of Nesselrod.
1892J. Anderson in J. R. Allen Early Chr. Monum. Scot. (1903) p. xx, The nose and the fore-leg of the stag cross and interrupt the *stem-line of the ogham inscription. 1914Munro Prehist. Britain ii. 25 The progress of man's intellectuality, ever since he diverged from the common stem line from which he and the anthropoid apes have descended.
1953Levan & Hauschka in Jrnl. Nat. Cancer Inst. XIV. 5 Chromosome numbers and the concept of ‘stemline’... The chromosome class with the highest number of cells, and the adjacent classes, represent the types mainly responsible for growth and characterize the principal stemline of each tumour. 1962Lancet 27 Jan. 218/2 Several cases of mosaicism in mongolism have been reported... Two of these cases were mosaics with three stemlines, 46, 47, and 48 chromosomes; and two with two stemlines, 46 and 47 chromosomes. 1972Science 23 June 1340/3 The establishment of this pattern was based on the analysis of stemlines, sidelines, and single deviating cells in 80 primary and 20 metastatic tumors.
1878Entomologist's Monthly Mag. XIV. 224 An enormous single egg, from which, undoubtedly, will come the *stem-mother. 1907,1923[see fundatrix 2]. 1979Vole Dec. 40/2 Here the mated females [sc. grain aphides] hide the eggs that will come through the winter. These hatch in the late spring.., becoming ‘stem mothers’ that grow up to fly in quest of grain fields.
1870H. A. Nicholson Man. Zool. I. 61 A spiral contractile fibre [in Vorticella], which is sometimes called the ‘*stem-muscle’.
1876Dunglison Med. Lex., Pessary, Intraüterine, *stem pessary,..an instrument for rectifying uterine displacements—as [etc.].
1901G. Jekyll Lilies for Eng. Gardens iii. 8 It should be planted six to seven inches deep, as it forms *stem roots. 1978B. Mathew Larger Bulbs 85 Some species [of Lilium] produce a tuft of roots from the stem just as it emerges from the bulb, these stem-roots partly acting as extra support.
1896T. W. Sanders Encycl. Gardening (ed. 2) 19 Artocarpus... Propagation: By *stem-rooting firm shoots in Feb., March; suckers at any time. 1974H. G. W. Fogg Compl. Handbk. Bulbs vii. 91/1 This stem-rooting lily should be planted at least 4 ins deep.
1899M. A. Carleton Cereal Rusts U.S. 57 The *stem rust..is not constant in occurrence, but will occasionally miss one or two years. 1923Jrnl. Agric. Res. XXIV. 979 There are several biologic forms of stem rust of wheat. 1946K. S. Chester Nature & Prevention of Cereal Rusts xiv. 199 Disproportionate emphasis..has been laid on stem rust..in wheat. 1979Tanous & Rubinstein Wheat Killing (1980) ix. 57 There's some stem rust around... The black spores of the rust were clearly visible.
1895D. Sharp Insects i. 504 Cephidae—*Stem Sawflies. 1896Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. VI. 15 Stem Saw-flies..pass their lives in the stems of plants or young shoots of trees.
1890E. A. Ormerod Injur. Insects (ed. 2) 54, I have notes of Clover plants *stem-sick from this Eelworm. Ibid. 52 ‘Stem-sickness’.
1873Young Englishwoman June 299/1 The embroidery is worked..in satin and *stem-stitch, and point-russe. 1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 461 Stem Stitch..is largely used to form the stems, tendrils, curves, and raised parts in Honiton and other Pillow Lace making. There are three kinds of Stem Stitch—Beginner's Stem, Buckle Stem, and Stem Stitch proper.
1897J. C. Willis Man. & Dict. Flowering Plants & Ferns I. iii. 182 In the *stem-succulents the leaves are reduced to scales or thorns. 1966E. Palmer Plains of Camdeboo xvi. 258 It is the stem-succulents..that are the most typical of Cranemere—Euphorbias, Stapeliads, and other such..most of them leafless, the work of the leaves being done by the stems and so protected from excessive transpiration; or bearing leaves for a short time only.
1929Sears Catal. Fall 898/1 One of the newest creations in *stemware. 1966H. Nielsen After Midnight (1967) xv. 194 A small, circular dinner table..had been meticulously set with china, silver and stemware.
1900Westm. Gaz. 17 Feb. 10/1 1,000 *stem-wind, brass, hunting-watch movements.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2373/2 Some of the *stem-winders are so constructed that by pushing in the pendant it is [etc.]. 1892Gunter Miss Divid. (1893) 68 ‘Ain't he a stem-winder, though?’ goes on the boy. ‘He was the most popular man on the line when it was built.’ 1926in J. F. Dobie Rainbow in Morning 85 He's a stemwinder and go-getter. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §422/5 Speech-maker,..stemwinder, vitalics, a forceful talker. 1973T. H. White Making of President 1972 (1974) viii. 210 After all the calls to unity,..a stemwinder in the old tradition from Hubert Humphrey,..appearances by Muskie and Kennedy, Sargent Shriver was formally nominated for Vice-President. 1977Time 3 Jan. 55/2 The 1,008 cadres and 24 fraternal foreign delegations..endured no fewer than 55 speeches, including an eight-hour stem-winder by Le Duan.
1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 247 *Stem Winding..[is] winding by means of a stem running through the pendant of a watch. The ordinary method of keyless winding.
1867Rep. Comm. Patents 1866 (U.S.) 1115 Either side of the case of the *stem-winding watch is opened by pressure upon the head of the winding arbor. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2373 Stem-winding Watch. 1966Atlantic Monthly Sept. 90 A stem-winding sermon by Reverend Cecil Todd..can be obtained by sending one dollar to Revival Fires in Joplin, Missouri.
Add:[4.] l. [By metonymy from sense 4 c.] A pipe used for smoking opium or crack. U.S. slang.
1925Flynn's 18 Apr. 116/1 Stem, an opium pipe. 1948H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. II. 681 In English the pipe is a stem, saxophone, gong, gonger, dream-stick, joy-stick or bamboo. 1990Village Voice (N.Y.) 30 Jan. 37/1 Now the johns drive up, they don't even say hello. They just go, ‘Hey, you got a stem [a crack pipe] on you?’
▪ II. stem, n.2 Naut.|stɛm|
Forms: 1 stefn, stefna or -ne, stemn, 5–6 steme, 6–7 stemme, 7 stemb, 7–8 stemm, 6– stem.
[OE. stęmn, stęfn str. masc. (also stęfna wk. masc. or stęfne wk. fem.), originally a specific application of stem n.1 in the sense ‘tree-trunk’. The nautical use occurs (sometimes with differentiated form) in several Teut. langs.: OFris. stevene (WFris. stjûwn, NFris. stēven), Du., LG. steven (whence G. steven; MDu. had also steve), OS. stamn, ON. stafn, stamn masc. (whence ME. stam n.1), Da. stavn, also (? from LG.) stævn, Sw. (? from LG.) stäf.
After the OE. period the native word does not occur in our quots. until late in the 15th c., though the 14th and 15th c. have several examples of stam (from the equivalent ON. form) and of the compound forestam. The native form must of course have been preserved in oral tradition alongside the Scandinavian form, which disappears in the 15th c. A few examples of steven are found in Sc. writers of the 16th c.; whether this descends from OE. stęfn, or a late adoption from LG. or Du., cannot be determined.]
†1. The timber at either extremity of a vessel, to which the ends of the side-planks were fastened; the ‘stem’ (in the modern sense) or the stern-post. Hence, either extremity of a vessel, the prow or the stern. Obs.
Beowulf 212 Beornas on stefn stiᵹon. a1000Andreas 495 Ic æfre ne ᵹeseah æniᵹne mann..þe ᵹelicne, steoran ofer stæfnan. 10..Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 288/1 Puppis, se æftera stemn. 1486Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 16 A plate of Irne for the steme of the same Cokke. 1497Ibid. 291 The Shippe Kele with the ij stemys belongyng vnto the same.
2. The curved upright timber or piece of metal at the bow of a vessel, into which the planks of the bow are scarfed; = the earlier forestam. false stem: see quot. 1627. main stem: the ‘stem’ proper as distinguished from the ‘false stem’.
1538Elyot Dict., Rostrum,..also the stemme of a ship or boote. 1587Marlowe 1st Pt. Tamburl. i. ii, Christian Merchants that with Russian stems Plow vp huge furrowes in the Caspian Sea, Shall vaile to us. 1601Holland Pliny vii. lvi. I. 190 Piseus the Tyrrhene..armed the stemme and beake⁓head of the ship with sharpe tines and pikes of brasse. 1627Capt. Smith Sea Gram. ii. 2 At the one end is skarfed into it the Stem, which is a great timber wrought compassing. Ibid. ix. 53 If her stem be too flat..fix another stem before it, and that is called a false stem, which will make her rid more way and beare a better saile. 1652Nedham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 54 As far as Nereus doth, to Ashur's Land Plow out a passage with his stemm's and oars. 1668Lond. Gaz. No. 236/1 But the Flyboat breaking her Stemm, sunk..suddenly. 1748Anson's Voy. iii. vii. 367 The joining of the stem where it was scarfed. 1797Encycl. Brit (ed. 3) XVII. 377/2 The height and rake of the stem and sternpost. 1830Hedderwick Mar. Archit. 246 From the foremost perpendicular, set off all the rakes of the stem inside and out. 1865Kingsley Herew. vi, He rode back to the ship,..and wondered at her carven stem and stern. 1869E. J. Reed Shipbuild. iii. 48 The stem of an iron ship..is usually a prolongation of the keel. 1889Welch Text Bk. Naval Archit. vii. 98 The stems of all ships complete, as it were, the framing at the fore part of the vessel.
b. Phrases. from stem to stern († from stern to stem, † from post to stem): along the whole length of a ship. to give (a ship) the stem: to ram. † stem for stem: (of ships) abreast, exactly alongside each other. stem on: so as to strike with the stem. stem to stem: (of ships) with their stems facing each other.
1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII (1550) 21 b, Sir Henry Guilford and sir Charles Brandon..beyng in the Souereigne,..laied stemme to stemme to the Caricke. 1622Sir R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea xxxiii. 80 Wee had..our shippe Calked from Post to Stemme. 1627Capt. Smith Sea Gram. ii. 2 Pulling it from sterne to stem. a1642Sir W. Monson Naval Tracts vi. (1704) 535/1 The Ship gave Stem to a Whale that lay a sleep..; it was a Stem upon a Whale. 1644H. Manwayring Seamans Dict. 102 To give a ship the Stem, that is to run right upon her with the Stem. 1667Lond. Gaz. No. 120/1 Three Ulushing Men of War..immediately came roundly up with us, Stemb to Stemb. 1670Covel in Early Voy. Levant (Hakl. Soc.) 129 There were five great ships a Head, coming stem for stem towards us. 1697Dryden æneis i. 164 Orontes Barque..From Stem to Stern, by Waves was overborn. 1836Thirlwall Greece III. xxvi. 431 The Athenians..would be forced to meet them..stem to stem. 1842Tennyson Morte d' Arthur 194 Then saw they how there hove a dusky barge, Dark as a funeral scarf from stem to stern. 1842Lever Jack Hinton ii, The sea ran high, and swept the little craft from stem to stern. 1880Daily Tel. 7 Sept., Steer her straight, good captain, stem on to the mark, and wear her round smart. 1884Manch. Exam. 24 Nov. 6/1 My little boat..has been driven full tilt, stem on, against a rock in mid-stream. 1885Daily Tel. 21 May 5/3 The cry was, ‘Give privateers the stem!’ that is, run them down. 1885Law Times Rep. LIII. 55/1 The Earl of Beaconsfield struck the J. M. Stevens on the port quarter stem on.
3. The prow, bows, or the whole forepart of a vessel.
1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 195 Turnynge the stemmes or forpartes of their shyppes ageynst the streame. 1676Wood Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1694) 187 So we lay South-south-west with the Stem. 1710W. King Heathen Gods & Heroes xii. (1722) 49 Ships, which had Stemms and Decks that resembled Towers. 1711W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 164. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle ii, The spray from the stem was flashing over me. 1878Masque of Poets 122 While her stem peeled the scum as an apple. 1898Encycl. Sport II. 298/1 (Rowing) Stem, the bows of a boat.
4. attrib. and Comb., as in stem-end, stem-head; stem-beat adj.; stemwards adv. Also stem-knee (see quot.); † stem-lock (meaning obscure: cf. ON. stafnlok ‘the locker in the stem’ (Vigf.), and stampneloker s.v. stam n.1); stem-mould, the mould (mould n.3 1 b) for shaping the stem of a vessel; stem-piece (see quots.); stem-post = sense 2; † stem-rudder, ? a false stem.
1627May Lucan ii. D 1 b, The *stemme beat sea with a vast murmur grones.
1611Cotgr., Piquant,..the nose, beake, or *stem-end of a ship.
1637Heywood Royall Ship 40 Upon the *stemme-head there is Cupid,..bestriding, and bridling a Lyon. 1884Daily News 13 Nov. 5/1 They all clung to the stemhead, the only part of the lugger which kept above water.
1863A. Young Naut. Dict. 388 *Stem-knees, crooked pieces of timber, the bolting of which connects the keel with the stem.
1532Privy Purse Exp. Hen. VIII (1827) 211 Paied to the said Carter for half a steme and for a *steme locke to the bote, iiij s.
1830Hedderwick Mar. Archit. 257 Draw the inside and outside of the rabbet fair by the *stem-mould.
c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 67 What is the *stem piece for? It lies between the knight heads, and strengthens that part of the ship which the bowsprit passes through. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2373 Stem-piece (Shipbuilding), a piece in front of the stem, into which the main piece of the head is stepped.
1841Penny Cycl. XXI. 393/1 At A and B, the extremities of the keel, the stern-post, and *stem-post are set up.
1664E. Bushnell Shipwright 60 You may..measure the content of the Keel and Post and *Stem-rudder, all of it that is without the Plank and under the water line.
1665Hooke Microgr. 45 The mouth of it open from the *stemwards. 1892Illustr. Lond. News 17 Dec. 774/3 His course, whether stemwards or sternwards, was steadily south.
▪ III. stem, n.3|stɛm|
Also 1 stemn, 4 stemme, stempne.
[OE. stemn str. masc., var. of stefn steven n.2]
†1. A fixed time; a period of time; a turn, vicissitude. Obs. Cf. steven n.2
O.E. Chron. an. 894, Hie hæfdon þa heora stemn ᵹesetenne,..& wæs se cyng þa þiderweardes on fære. a1300Cursor M. 11225 Wel moght he ger witvten stemme, Maiden ber barn wit-vten wemme. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 439 He deled þe tymes and stempnes of þe myȝtes among companyes of strompettes. Ibid. IV. 29 Þey tweyne regnede by stempnes. 1398― Barth. De P.R. ii. ii. (1495) 28 In that he is a creature he hath stemnes of chaungynge. Ibid., They ben not chaunged by dedely stempnes, nother they haue contraryousnesse of passybylite.
2. Mining. (See quots.)
1778Pryce Min. Cornub. 179 Sometimes they are necessitated to work considerably longer than their stated hours; and then they are said to make a stem, or part of a stem, or to work a stem out of core. 1778Pennat Tour Wales (1883) I. 65 The laborers worked by stems, relieving each other at stated times. 1868Tregellas' Cornish Tales 191 Gloss., Stem, day's work. 1896Daily News 10 Feb. 3/6 Newport... Stems are numerous at this and the adjoining ports.
attrib.a1863J. T. Tregellas Cornish Tales (1868) 17 And every stem-man lev un come.
3. Fishing. (See quots.)
1701Brand Descr. Orkney etc. (1703) 151 Up the Water they cannot run, because of the larger Net, and neither down can they go, because of the Stem, or Stones laid together in form of a Wall. 1776Act 16 Geo. III, c. 36 §1 The six several Stems or Stations for taking Fish within the said Bay of Saint Ives. 1879Encycl. Brit. IX. 254/1 It is divided into six stations or ‘stems’, by marks or boundaries on the land.
▪ IV. stem, n.4 Sc.|stɛm|
[f. stem v.2]
Resistance, opposition; a check.
c1700Mrs. Goodal in Tweedie Sel. Biogr. (Wodrow Soc.) II. 484 There is something of a stem lately risen in my heart. 1889H. Morton in Life (1895) 189 The notice gave us a stem..He did not seem to think he was dying.
▪ V. † stem, v.1 Obs.
Also 4 stemm, steme, stempme.
[? a. ON. stemna, stefna to summon, call before a tribunal (whence late OE. stefnian in O.E. Chron. ann. 1048, 1093), f. stefna = OE. stefn stem n.3]
a. trans. To contend with.
b. intr. ? To debate with oneself.
a1300Cursor M. 21135 Þat folk ilkan wald oþer stemm [Gött. stem], Qua rin moght titest on his hemm. 13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 230 He stemmed & con studie, Quo walt þer most renoun. Ibid. 1117 Þay stoden, & stemed, & stylly speken. a1400–50Wars Alex. 2480 Ȝe suld noȝt stody ne stem þe sternes for to handill. Ibid. 2960 He studis & he stuynes, he stemes [MS. Dubl. stempmys] with-in. Ibid. 5301 Þan stemes he with þe stoute kyng, & stiggis with his name.
▪ VI. stem, v.2|stɛm|
Also 4, 7 stemme.
[a. ON. stemma (Sw. stämma, Da. stemme) = OHG., MHG., mod.G. stemmen (? Du. stempen to stop the flow of):—OTeut. *stamjan, f. *stam- root of stammer v.]
†1. intr. ? To stop, delay. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 24327 Speke we wald, might had we nan, For-þi we stemmed still als stan. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 905 And loke ȝe stemme no stepe, bot strechez on faste. 1570Levins Manip. 60/2 To stemme, tutubare [? for titubare].
2. trans. To stop, check; to dam up (a stream, or the like).
When used fig. in phrases like ‘to stem the tide’, this verb is sometimes confused with stem v.4, to make headway against.
c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 4313 Þere myght na thing thaim stem. 1713Steele Englishm. No. 28. 184 They were able to stem the proceedings of the Crown when they pleased. a1806H. K. White To Friend in Distress 4 When from my downcast eye I chase the tear, and stem the rising sigh. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xxi, Little Jacob stemmed the course of two tears. 1855Paley æschylus (1861) Pref. p. xxxiii, Aristophanes evidently saw the tide that was setting strongly in favour of the new candidate for scenic supremacy, and he vainly tried to stem it by the barrier of his ridicule. 1860Geo. Eliot Mill on Fl. i. xii, Mr. Glegg..sat down to his milk-porridge, which it was his old frugal habit to stem his morning hunger with. 1883Froude in 19th Cent. XIII. 637 It was the Spanish power indisputably which stemmed the Reformation.
3. a. To set (one's limbs, hand) firmly.
1827Hone Every-day Bk. II. 340 This they do, by stemming themselves with their haunches against the gates. The elephant..stems his knees against the wheels. 1859Wraxall tr. R. Houdin ii. 9 And he stemmed his fist in his side while he held his head impudently high.
b. intr. to stem back: to resist being driven forwards.
1899N.B. Daily Mail 12 Dec. 2 When these bullocks reached the threshold of the slaughter-house they stem'd back with their fore-feet... What made these bullocks stem back?
4. trans. Mining. To plug or tamp (a hole for blasting).
1791Smeaton Edystone L. §223 note, The stemming a hole for blasting rocks with gunpowder. 1875J. Taylor Poems etc. 35 Often a good shot of the powder well ‘stemmed’ would not remove a capfull of the rock. 1880J. Lomas Man. Alkali Trade 273 At the four corners..a diamond is formed, and thoroughly stemmed with dry fireclay just moistened with tar [etc.]. Ibid. 305 The cover [of the still] is usually formed of segments of stone, and is let and stemmed into a ledge cut in the side stones.
5. a. To stop, to staunch (bleeding, etc.). Sc.
c1470Henry Wallace x. 351 Be than he had stemmyt full weill his wound. c1550Clariodus i. 1021 He with diverse herbis vertewus Stemit his woundis, and stintit the bleiding. a1835Hogg Tales & Sk. (1837) VI. 10 John, nevertheless, did all that he could to bind up and stem his cousin's wounds. 1870J. Bruce Gideon ii. 29 So that the bleeding wound should be stemmed and bound up.
b. intr. Of bleeding: to become staunched.
1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 613 The tail sometimes bleeds for a long time..though usually the bleeding soon stems.
6. Skiing. [ad. G. stemmen.]
a. To decelerate (esp. before a turn) on a traverse descent by weighting the upper ski and angling its outer edge into the snow, causing the ski to turn downhill.
1904E. C. Richardson Ski-Running 41 (caption) The proper way to stem... A good stemming-spoor is at once known by the broad track of the braker. 1935Punch 6 Feb. 164/3 Stemming.—Your ordinary straight running will lack the easy confidence..it should have unless I first show you how to stem, which is the only legitimate way of applying the brake other than using complicated turns like the christiania or the telemark. 1948H. Innes Blue Ice x. 249 Jill stopped then and I stemmed. We were standing at the end of the snowshed. 1970N. Fleming Czech Point i. 22, I sideslipped at first, grew tired of it, stemmed for a while and then had just started to take the slope straight when the shot was fired.
b. The vb. in Comb., as stem-Christiania, a turn made by stemming and lifting the lower ski parallel as the manœuvre is completed (less advanced than the full Christiania); hence as colloq. abbrev. stem-Christie (also v. intr., to turn in this manner); stem turn, an elementary turn made by stemming and then bringing the unweighted ski parallel in the new line; also transf. and as v. intr., to make a stem turn or turns.
1922V. Caulfeild Ski-ing Turns xii. 228 The Stem-Christiania, like the Stem turn, is mainly used for down⁓hill turning on hard snow... A downhill turn can..be made more sharply by the Stem-Christiania than by any other means except a jump. 1961Times 7 Jan. 7/6 The tried and basic essentials of the snowplough and the stem-christiania in particular.
1936Sierra Club Bull. Feb. 57, I soon began very short linked stem-christies with the aid of the inner pole. 1942‘N. Shute’ Pied Piper ii. 20 At each new slope of snow he thought to see John come hurting over the brow, stem-christie to a traverse, and vanish in a white flurry that sped down into the valley. 1972‘M. Yorke’ Silent Witness vi. iv. 141 They stem-christied inexpertly over the wide plateau.
1922V. Caulfeild Ski-ing Turns vii. 123 The Stem turn is impossible in heavy soft snow or breaking crust... There are two forms of the Stem turn... The Pure Stem turn is only possible on gentle slopes... The Lifted Stem Turn can be employed for down-hill turning on moderately steep slopes. 1938[see Christie]. 1959M. Gilbert Blood & Judgement ix. 98 Petrella..started straight off down the pavement, did a stem turn at the corner... ‘At least he can still walk,’ said Borden. 1973J. Goodfield Courier to Peking xiii. 171 They were moving downhill with the competence of an Olympic skier in a slalom race, stem⁓turning neatly at every snake-like twist of the road.
▪ VII. stem, v.3|stɛm|
Also 6 steme, stemp, 6–7 stemme.
[f. stem n.2]
1. trans. Of a vessel, a navigator: To urge the stem against, make headway against (a tide, current, gale, etc.). Hence of a swimmer, a flying bird, and the like: To make headway against (water or wind), to breast (the waves, the air). Often in figurative context: see note to stem v.2 2.
1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. vi. 36 As doth a Saile, fill'd with a fretting Gust, Command an Argosie to stemme the Waues. 1613–16W. Browne Brit. Past. i. iv. 68 Milke-white Swannes which stem the streames of Poe. 1619Drayton Heroical Epist., Lady Jane Gray 77 The true-bred Eagle strongly stems [earlier edd. beares] the Wind. 1654Whitlock Zootomia 27 He that would stemme the Tyde, had need of a good Gale. 1682Dryden & Tate Abs. & Achit. ii. 1132 This year did Ziloah Rule Jerusalem, And boldly all Sedition's Syrges stem. 1720De Foe Capt. Singleton v. (1840) 80 We stemmed the ebb easily. 1754Hume Hist. Gt. Brit., Chas. I, iv. 249 Charles, in despair of being able to stem the torrent, at last resolved to yield to it. 1764Goldsm. Trav. 71 The naked negro, panting at the line,..Basks in the glare, or stems the tepid wave. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) ii, Eviter à marée, to stem the tide. Eviter au vent, to carry the head to windward, to stem the wind. 1815Falconer's Dict. Marine (ed. Burney), To Stem the Tide, is to acquire a velocity in sailing against the tide equal to the force of the current. 1816Tuckey Narr. Exped. R. Zaire iii. (1818) 78 Though the current was running scarcely three miles an hour, she [the ship] at first barely stemmed it. 1816Scott Old Mort. xxx, The prudence of Morton found sufficient occupation in stemming the furious current of these contending parties. 1861Buckle Civiliz. (1869) III. v. 298 He opposed the tide which he was unable to stem. 1899F. T. Bullen Log Sea-waif 289 The swift ebb past us..straining our cable out taut as if we were stemming a gale.
b. transf. and fig. To go counter to, make headway against (something compared to a stream); rarely, † to face, defy (a person).
1675Otway Alcibiades i. i, I then..Will bravely stem him, and with this bold Hand Revenge, or fall a Victim to your Flame. 1675V. Alsop Anti-Sozzo iii. §2. 161 Never was Man so confuted.. as he that stems the Experience of the whole World. 1759Johnson Rasselas xlvii, Every one is not able to stem the temptations of public life. a1844Campbell Transl., Martial Elegy 23 Leave not our sires to stem th' unequal fight. 1847De Quincey Joan of Arc Wks. 1890 V. 412 [This calumny] has a weight of contradicting testimony to stem. a1853Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. xxi. 272 We are now to ask how he will stem those seductions. 1888F. Cowper Caedwalla 250 At a very slow pace..the grey frocked monks..stemmed the still hurrying bodies of fugitives.
c. to stem one's course: to make one's way against difficulties. rare.
1826M. W. Shelley Last Man II. 36 Slowly and sadly I stemned [sic] my course from among the heaps of slain.
d. To direct the head of (a vessel) on a place; to keep (a vessel) on a fixed course.
1594J. Dickenson Arisbas (1878) 85 The Pilot mistaking his course, stemmed the ship on a rock. 1653Holcroft Procopius, Goth. Wars i. 31 No wind being able to stemme them up the Stream. 1684tr. Corn. Nepos Ded. a 8 He is the Master of true Courage that all the time sedately stemms the Ship.
e. intr. Of a vessel or a navigator: To head in a certain direction, keep a certain course.
1375Barbour Bruce v. 25 Thai na nedill had na stane, But rowit alwayis in-till ane, Stemmand alwayis apon the fyre, That thai saw byrnand. 1595T. Edwards Narcissus (Roxb.) 53 Then like a cunning pilate making out, To gaine the Oceans currant stem I forward. a1656Ussher Ann. (1658) 153 Upon the sudden Alcibiades came stemming in with 18 fresh ships. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 642 They on the trading Flood..Ply stemming nightly toward the Pole. 1672Lond. Gaz. No. 680/1 We got up with them on their weather Gage, they and we stemming up S by W. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) ii. s.v. Gouverne, The order to steer the ship exactly as she stems, or carries her head. 1801Naval Chron. VI. 12 The..squadron..found themselves stemming for the centre of the..fleet. 1863Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. xx. 520 There it was, stemming away against wind and tide. 1908L. Binyon Lond. Visions 88 Ships on far tracks are stemming through the night.
2. To dash against with the stem of a vessel; to ram. Obs.
c1500Melusine xxxvi. 269 They..stemed the shippes of the sarasyns in suche manere that they were sparpylled. 1537Adm. Ct. Exemplif. i. No. 174 [An English ship mistook another for a Spaniard and] stemped the foresaid Thomas. 1596Spenser F.Q. iv. ii. 16 As when two war⁓like Brigandines..Doe meete together..They stemme ech other with so fell despight, That [etc.]. 1614Ralegh Hist. World iii. vi. §6. 68 Stemming the formost of their enemies, and chasing the rest. 1617Purchas Pilgrimage v. vii. (ed. 3) 599 Their three smaller Ships had thought to haue Stemmed the Hope then riding at an Anchor. 1654H. Lestrange Chas. I (1655) 95 When suddenly rose a violent storm which drave a greater vessel..so forcibly upon them as stemm'd them. a1670Hacket Abp. Williams i. (1693) 132 And like two great Caraques in a foul Sea, they never met in Counsel, but they stemmed one another. 1810Naval Chron. XXIII. 53 A beak of metal was fixed on their prows for the purpose of stemming the enemy's ships.
†b. transf. Used of natural agencies. Obs.
a1592Greene & Lodge Looking Gl. (1598) F 2 b, Our Barke is battered by incountring stormes, And welny stemd by breaking of the flouds.
†c. to go stemming: to ram a ship. Obs.
1644H. Manwayring Seamans Dict. 102 To goe Stemming a-boord a ship, that is the same, as giving the ship the Stem.
†3. intr. To meet stem to stem with. Obs.
1697W. Dampier Voy. I. 461 We stemm'd right with the middle of it [sc. the shoal], and stood within half a mile of the Rocks, and sounded; but found no ground.
†4. trans. To furnish (a ship) with a stem. Obs.
1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 219/2 Nauis rostrata,..a ship stemmed, beaked, or pointed with brasse. c1590Greene Friar Bacon 1057 (Grosart), Frigats bottomd with rich Sethin planks,..Stemd and incast with burnisht Iuorie.
▪ VIII. stem, v.4|stɛm|
Also 6 steam.
[f. stem n.1]
†1. intr. To rise erect, mount upwards. Also with up. Obs.
1577Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. iii. 14 b in Holinshed, The greater part of the towne [Rosse] is steepe and steaming vpwarde. 1582― æneis ii. (Arb.) 43 Thee Greekish captayns..Framd a steed of tymber, steaming lyk mounten in hudgnesse. 1609[W. Barlow] Answ. Nameless Cath. 107 Romulus his Iaueling, which hee darting from him, it immediately stemmed vp into a stately Cornell Tree. 1786G. Frazer Dove's Flight etc. 111 [He] suffered it to stem out until it became a tree of full growth.
†2. To produce a stem. Obs.
1631Chapman Cæsar & Pompey iii. i. 16 All which hath growne still, as the time encrease [sic] In which twas gather'd, and with which it stemm'd. 1787Fam. Plants I. 105 It seems distinguished from Androsace, by the habit, the plant stemming, with simple peduncles.
3. trans.
a. Tobacco-manuf. To remove the stalk and midrib from tobacco-leaf. Cf. strip v.
In quot. 1724 the senses of stem and strip are confused (D.A.E.).
1724H. Jones Present State of Virginia 40 It lies till they have Leisure or Occasion to stem it (that is pull the leaves from the Stalk) or strip it (that is to take out the great Fibres). 1797G. Imlay Topogr. Descr. Western Terr. N. Amer. (ed. 3) 248 This done, you stem the tobacco, or pull out the middle rib of the leaf. 1844Rep. Sel. Comm. Tobacco Trade, Min. Evid. 103 In America, where there is no duty on tobacco, they stem the tobacco in a very rough kind of way, and a great deal of leaf adheres to the stalk. 1859[see stemmery]. 1904Daily Chron. 20 Apr. 8/3 The process of stemming or stripping the leaf.
b. To remove the stalk from (a leaf, fruit, etc.).
1873Trans. Illinois Dept. Agric. X. 61 The grapes were pressed without stemming. 1907K. D. Wiggin New Chron. Rebecca x. 308 Her aunt and her mother were stemming currants on the side porch. 1908Daily Chron. 10 Apr. 7/4 To the chicken add one half pound of fresh mushrooms, peeled and stemmed.
4. To beg or ‘panhandle’ on the streets. Cf. stem n.1 6 b. U.S. slang.
1924‘Digit’ Confessions 20th Century Hobo 12 Stemming, begging, cadging. 1931‘D. Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route viii. 84 Panhandling falls into two classes: the domestic type..and a kind carried on in the streets and known as ‘stemming’. 1937Lit. Digest 10 Apr. 12/2 Stemming, panhandling in cities.
5. fig.
a. To derive or take origin from; to spring from. (The principal modern sense.) orig. U.S.
1932A. H. Quinn Soul of Amer. 131 The policy of vigorous intervention in the affairs of the nations bordering on the Caribbean Sea stems from Roosevelt's administration. 1937R. S. Morton Woman Surgeon i. 15, I realize now that my apparent indifference to suitors for marriage stemmed from my determination to study medicine. 1942W. Faulkner Go down, Moses 86 He knew what he had seen in his father's face..something..not stemming from any difference of race nor because one blood strain ran in them both. 1949Here & Now (N.Z.) Nov. 27/1 From this stemmed a whole line of high-grade thrillers. 1952B. Smalley Study of Bible in Middle Ages 358 Both literal and spiritual exposition stemmed from Origen. 1958Times 11 Feb. 11/7 The whole of this trouble has stemmed entirely from your own behaviour. 1961I. Fleming Thunderball xviii. 194 The source of his wealth was unknown but did not stem from funds held in Italy. 1976H. Wilson Governance of Britain x. 183 Bills normally stem from the legislative arm. 1979J. Grimond Memoirs vi. 98, I believe that much that is wrong with attitudes and organisation in Britain stems from the war.
b. To extend back to in origin. Also, to arise out of.
1937Sun (Baltimore) 24 Nov. 2/7 Wall Streeters said the controversy stemmed back to the annual report issued by Mr. Gay as president of the exchange last August. 1959N. Lofts Heaven in your Hand 99 The whole thing stemmed back to the beliefs in the African witch-doctors. 1965Listener 11 Nov. 740/1 It is sometimes claimed that race antipathy stems out of the same order of cultural differences. 1974Times Lit. Suppl. 26 Apr. 430/3 There is still doubt and conflict here, stemming back to the ancient world.
▪ IX. † stem, v.5 Obs. (? nonce-wd.)
[? f. L. stemma, garland.]
trans. To encircle.
1596Spenser F.Q. vi. x. 12 The whilest the rest them round about did hemme, And like a girlond did in compasse stemme.
▪ X. stem, v.6 Coal-trade.|stɛm|
[Var. of steven v., steem v.3]
trans. (See quot. 1903.)
1898Westm. Gaz. 2 Apr. 1/3 Several contracts for boats stemmed on Admiralty orders were cancelled this morning. 1903Pitman's Business Man's Guide 409 To stem a vessel means to load her, or arrange to load her, with coals, within a certain time. 1908Paasch Keel to Truck 732 Stem, to (a vessel). Term frequently used when booking a vessel for a turn in a dock, dry-dock, etc. |