stem

noun
/stɛm/US/stem/

Etymology

From Middle English stem, stemme, stempne, stevin, from Old English stemn (“stem”), from Proto-West Germanic *stamni, from Proto-Germanic *stamniz (“stem, tree stalk”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, stay”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch stam (“stem”), German Stamm (“stem”), Danish and Norwegian stamme (“stem”), Danish stavn, stævn (“stem of a boat”), Faroese stavnur (“stem of a boat”), stovnur (“institution, public body, foundation, basis”), Icelandic stafn (“stem of a boat”), stofn (“trunk, stock, livestock, stem”), Norn stomna, stimna (“strength, ability”), Swedish stäm (“tree trunk, stem”), stäv (“stem of a boat”), stomme (“frame, structure”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐍉𐌼𐌰 (stōma, “substantial grounds, just cause”), Asturian estame (“stamen”), Aragonese estambre (“stamen”), Catalan estam (“stamen”), French étaim (“yarn”), Galician estame (“stamen, yarn”), Italian stame (“stamen”), Portuguese estame (“stem, yarn”), Spanish Spanish estambre (“stamen, a type of yarn”), Latin stāmen (“warp of a loom, thread hanging from a distaff”), Ancient Greek στῆμα (stêma, “stamen of a flower”), στάμνος (stámnos, “earthen jar, bottle for racking off wine”), Albanian shtamë (“pot, jar, pitcher, jug”), Sanskrit स्थामन् (sthā́man, “place, strength”). Doublet of stamen. Not related to English stoma, which is a Greek loan inherited through New Latin.

  1. derived from *steh₂-
  2. inherited from *stamniz
  3. inherited from *stamni
  4. inherited from stemn
  5. inherited from stem

Definitions

  1. The stock of a family

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

    • Where ye may all that are of noble ſtemm / Approach, and kiſs her ſacred veſtures hemm.
    • While I do pray, learn here thy stem / And true descent.
  2. A branch of a family.

    • This is a stem / Of that victorious stock.
  3. An advanced or leading position

    An advanced or leading position; the lookout.

    • Wolsey sat at the stem more than twenty years.
  4. + 30 more definitions
    1. The above-ground stalk (technically axis) of a vascular plant, and certain anatomically…

      The 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.
      • 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.
    2. A slender supporting member of an individual part of a plant such as a flower or a leaf

      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
    3. A narrow part on certain man-made objects, such as a wine glass, a tobacco pipe, a spoon.

    4. The main part of an uninflected word to which affixes may be added to form inflections of…

      The 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 […].
    5. A 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.
    6. The penis.

      • Waves of ecstasy roll through him as the moustachioed Casanova slides his stem in and out of the spaced-out chick.
    7. A vertical stroke of a letter.

    8. A vertical stroke marking the length of a note in written music.

    9. A premixed portion of a track for use in audio mastering and remixing.

    10. The vertical or nearly vertical forward extension of the keel, to which the forward ends…

      The vertical or nearly vertical forward extension of the keel, to which the forward ends of the planks or strakes are attached.

    11. The front part of a vessel.

      • from stem to stern
      • 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.
    12. A component on a bicycle that connects the handlebars to the bicycle fork.

    13. A part of an anatomic structure considered without its possible branches or ramifications.

    14. A crack pipe

      A crack pipe; or the long, hollow portion of a similar pipe (i.e. meth pipe) resembling a crack pipe.

    15. A winder on a clock, watch, or similar mechanism.

    16. To remove the stem from.

      • to stem cherries; to stem tobacco leaves
    17. To be caused or derived

      To be caused or derived; to originate.

      • The current crisis stems from the short-sighted politics of the previous government.
      • Weight stigma often stems from an idea that patients are at fault for their body size.
    18. To descend in a family line.

    19. To direct the stem (of a ship) against

      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.
    20. To hit with the stem of a ship

      To hit with the stem of a ship; to ram.

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

    22. To stop, hinder (for instance, a river or blood).

      • to stem a tide
      • [They] stem the flood with their erected breasts.
      • Stemm'd the wild torrent of a barbarous age.
    23. To move the feet apart and point the tips of the skis inward in order to slow down the…

      To move the feet apart and point the tips of the skis inward in order to slow down the speed or to facilitate a turn.

    24. To use a stance with the feet spread apart, bracing them in opposite directions against…

      To use a stance with the feet spread apart, bracing them in opposite directions against the two walls of a chimney or dihedral.

    25. Alternative form of steem.

    26. Alternative form of STEM.

    27. Alternative spelling of stemme (“lesbian who combines stud and femme traits”).

    28. Acronym of scanning transmission electron microscope.

    29. Acronym of science, technology, engineering, (and) mathematics.

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

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at stem. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01stem02stock03store04storage05disk06geometric07geometry08subbranch09offshoot

A definitional loop anchored at stem. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at stem

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA