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

\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\, 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\, 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.

\Stem\, v. i.
To move forward against an obstacle, as a vessel against a
current.
      Stemming nightly toward the pole.        --Milton.