Wiktionary

stem

See also: Stem, STEM, stém, and stêm

EnglishEdit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

PronunciationEdit

  • enPR: stĕm, IPA(key): /stɛm/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛm

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English stem, stemme, stempne, stevin, from Old English stemn, from Proto-Germanic *stamniz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, stay”).

NounEdit

stem (plural stems)

  1. The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors.
  2. A branch of a family.
  3. An advanced or leading position; the lookout.
    • 1655, Thomas Fuller, James Nichols, editor, The Church History of Britain, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), new edition, London: […] [James Nichols] for Thomas Tegg and Son, […], published 1837, →OCLC:
      Wolsey sat at the stem more than twenty years.
  4. (botany) The above-ground stalk (technically axis) of a vascular plant, and certain anatomically similar, below-ground organs such as rhizomes, bulbs, tubers, and corms.
    • 1736, Sir Walter Raleigh, The History of the World in Five Books
      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.
  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
    • 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 206-7:
      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.
  7. A narrow part on certain man-made objects, such as a wine glass, a tobacco pipe, a spoon.
  9. (linguistics) 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.
  10. (slang) A person's leg.
    • 2008, Lori Wilde, Rhonda Nelson, Cara Summers, August Harlequin Blaze
      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.
  11. (slang) The penis.
    • 2005, Eric Bogosian, Wasted Beauty, page 135:
      Waves of ecstasy roll through him as the moustachioed Casanova slides his stem in and out of the spaced-out chick.
  12. (typography) A vertical stroke of a letter.
  13. (music) A vertical stroke marking the length of a note in written music.
    Synonyms: tail, (obsolete) virgula
  14. (music) A premixed portion of a track for use in audio mastering and remixing.
    • 2019, Karl Pedersen; Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard, The Recording, Mixing, and Mastering Reference Handbook, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 268:
      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.
  15. (nautical) The vertical or nearly vertical forward extension of the keel, to which the forward ends of the planks or strakes are attached.
  16. (cycling) A component on a bicycle that connects the handlebars to the bicycle fork.
  17. (anatomy) A part of an anatomic structure considered without its possible branches or ramifications.
  18. (slang) A crack pipe; or the long, hollow portion of a similar pipe (i.e. meth pipe) resembling a crack pipe.
  19. (chiefly Britain) A winder on a clock, watch, or similar mechanism.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
ReferencesEdit

“stem”, in Collins English Dictionary.

VerbEdit

stem (third-person singular simple present stems, present participle stemming, simple past and past participle 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.
  3. To descend in a family line.
  4. To direct the stem (of a ship) against; to make headway against.
  5. (obsolete) To hit with the stem of a ship; to ram.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.ii:
      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 […]
  6. To ram (clay, etc.) into a blasting hole.
SynonymsEdit
TranslationsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

From Middle English stemmen, a borrowing from Old Norse stemma (“to stop, stem, dam”) (whence Danish stemme/stæmme (“to stem, dam up”)), from Proto-Germanic *stammijaną. Cognate with German stemmen, Middle Dutch stemmen, stempen. Compare stammer.

VerbEdit

stem (third-person singular simple present stems, present participle stemming, simple past and past participle stemmed)

  1. (transitive) To stop, hinder (for instance, a river or blood).
    to stem a tide
  2. (skiing) 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.
SynonymsEdit
TranslationsEdit

Etymology 3Edit

NounEdit

stem (plural stems)

  1. Alternative form of steem

Etymology 4Edit

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

NounEdit

stem (plural stems)

  1. Alternative form of STEM
    • 2015 May 29th, BBC News, How do US black students perform at school?
      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.

Further readingEdit

Etymology 5Edit

Blend of stud +‎ femme

NounEdit

stem (plural stems)

  1. A lesbian, chiefly African-American, exhibiting both stud and femme traits.
    Synonym: futch

AnagramsEdit

AfrikaansEdit

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Dutch stem, from Middle Dutch stemme, from Old Dutch *stemma, from Proto-Germanic *stebnō, *stamnijō.

NounEdit

stem (plural stemme)

  1. vote
  2. voice
    • 1921, C.J. Langenhoven (lyrics), M.L. de Villiers (music), “Die Stem van Suid-Afrika”, South Africa:
      Ruis die stem van ons geliefde, van ons land Suid-Afrika.
      Rises the voice of our beloved, of our country South Africa.

Etymology 2Edit

From Dutch stemmen.

VerbEdit

stem (present stem, present participle stemmende, past participle gestem)

  1. to vote

DutchEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle Dutch stemme, from Old Dutch *stemma, from Proto-Germanic *stebnō, *stamnijō. Under influence of Latin vox (“voice, word”), it acquired the now obsolete sense of “word”.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

stem f (plural stemmen, diminutive stemmetje n)

  1. voice, sound made by the mouth using airflow
  2. the ability to speak
    Zij is haar stem kwijt. ― She’s lost her voice.
  3. vote
  4. (obsolete) word
  5. (phonetics) voice, property formed by vibration of the vocal cords

Derived termsEdit

DescendantsEdit

  • Afrikaans: stem
  • Negerhollands: stem
  • → Aukan: sitemu
  • → Caribbean Javanese: setèm, nyetèm, nyetèmi
  • → Indonesian: sêtèm
  • → Indonesian: suara (semantic loan)
  • → Papiamentu: stèm
  • → Sranan Tongo: sten, stèm

VerbEdit

stem

  1. first-person singular present indicative of stemmen
  2. imperative of stemmen

AnagramsEdit

IndonesianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From English stem, from Middle English stem, stemme, stempne, stevin, from Old English stemn, from Proto-Germanic *stamniz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, stay”).

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): [ˈstem]
  • Hyphenation: stém

NounEdit

stem (first-person possessive stemku, second-person possessive stemmu, third-person possessive stemnya)

  1. (nautical) stem: the vertical or nearly vertical forward extension of the keel, to which the forward ends of the planks or strakes are attached.

Further readingEdit

LatinEdit

PronunciationEdit

VerbEdit

stem

  1. first-person singular present active subjunctive of stō

Norwegian BokmålEdit

VerbEdit

stem

  1. imperative of stemme

Norwegian NynorskEdit

VerbEdit

stem

  1. imperative of stemme

Tok PisinEdit

EtymologyEdit

From English stamp.

NounEdit

stem

  1. stamp
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