Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Stem \Stem\, Steem \Steem\, v. i.
   To gleam. [Obs.]

         His head bald, that shone as any glass, . . . [And]
         stemed as a furnace of a leed [caldron]. --Chaucer.

Stem \Stem\, v. i.
   To move forward against an obstacle, as a vessel against a
   current.

         Stemming nightly toward the pole.        --Milton.

Stem \Stem\, Steem \Steem\, n.
   A gleam of light; flame. [Obs.]

Stem \Stem\, n. [AS. stemn, stefn, st[ae]fn; akin to OS. stamn
   the stem of a ship, D. stam stem, steven stem of a ship, G.
   stamm stem, steven stem of a ship, Icel. stafn, stamn, stem
   of a ship, stofn, stomn, stem, Sw. stam a tree trunk, Dan.
   stamme. Cf. {Staff}, {Stand}.]
   1. The principal body of a tree, shrub, or plant, of any
      kind; the main stock; the part which supports the branches
      or the head or top.

            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.                --Sir W.
                                                  Raleigh.

            The lowering spring, with lavish rain, Beats down
            the slender stem and breaded grain.   --Dryden.

   2. A little branch which connects a fruit, flower, or leaf
      with a main branch; a peduncle, pedicel, or petiole; as,
      the stem of an apple or a cherry.

   3. The stock of a family; a race or generation of
      progenitors. ``All that are of noble stem.'' --Milton.

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

   4. A branch of a family.

            This is a stem Of that victorious stock. --Shak.

   5. (Naut.) A curved piece of timber to which the two sides of
      a ship are united at the fore end. The lower end of it is
      scarfed to the keel, and the bowsprit rests upon its upper
      end. Hence, the forward part of a vessel; the bow.

   6. Fig.: An advanced or leading position; the lookout.

            Wolsey sat at the stem more than twenty years.
                                                  --Fuller.

   7. Anything resembling a stem or stalk; as, the stem of a
      tobacco pipe; the stem of a watch case, or that part to
      which the ring, by which it is suspended, is attached.

   8. (Bot.) That part of a plant which bears leaves, or
      rudiments of leaves, whether rising above ground or wholly
      subterranean.

   9. (Zo["o]l.)
      (a) The entire central axis of a feather.
      (b) The basal portion of the body of one of the
          Pennatulacea, or of a gorgonian.

   10. (Mus.) The short perpendicular line added to the body of
       a note; the tail of a crotchet, quaver, semiquaver, etc.

   11. (Gram.) The part of an inflected word which remains
       unchanged (except by euphonic variations) throughout a
       given inflection; theme; base.

   {From stem to stern} (Naut.), from one end of the ship to the
      other, or through the whole length.

   {Stem leaf} (Bot.), a leaf growing from the stem of a plant,
      as contrasted with a basal or radical leaf.

Stem \Stem\, v. t.
   1. To remove the stem or stems from; as, to stem cherries; to
      remove the stem and its appendages (ribs and veins) from;
      as, to stem tobacco leaves.

   2. To ram, as clay, into a blasting hole.

Stem \Stem\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Stemmed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Stemming}.] [Either from stem, n., or akin to stammer; cf.
   G. stemmen to press against.]
   To oppose or cut with, or as with, the stem of a vessel; to
   resist, or make progress against; to stop or check the flow
   of, as a current. ``An argosy to stem the waves.'' --Shak.

         [They] stem the flood with their erected breasts.
                                                  --Denham.

         Stemmed the wild torrent of a barbarous age. --Pope.

Source : WordNet®

stem
     v 1: grow out of, have roots in, originate in; "The increase in
          the national debt stems from the last war"
     2: cause to point inward; "stem your skis"
     3: stop the flow of a liquid; "staunch the blood flow"; "them
        the tide" [syn: {stanch}, {staunch}, {halt}]
     4: remove the stem from; "for automatic natural language
        processing, the words must be stemmed"
     [also: {stemming}, {stemmed}]

stem
     n 1: (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are
          removed; "thematic vowels are part of the stem" [syn: {root},
           {root word}, {base}, {theme}, {radical}]
     2: a slender or elongated structure that supports a plant or
        fungus or a plant part or plant organ [syn: {stalk}]
     3: cylinder forming a long narrow part of something [syn: {shank}]
     4: the tube of a tobacco pipe
     5: front part of a vessel or aircraft; "he pointed the bow of
        the boat toward the finish line" [syn: {bow}, {fore}, {prow}]
     6: a turn made in skiing; the back of one ski is forced outward
        and the other ski is brought parallel to it [syn: {stem
        turn}]
     [also: {stemming}, {stemmed}]