| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| stem1 |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  st m |
| NOUN: | 1a. The main ascending axis of a plant; a stalk or trunk. b. A slender stalk supporting or connecting another plant part, such as a leaf or flower. 2. A banana stalk bearing several bunches of bananas. 3. A connecting or supporting part, especially: a. The tube of a tobacco pipe. b. The slender upright support of a wineglass or goblet. c. The small projecting shaft with an expanded crown by which a watch is wound. d. The rounded rod in the center of certain locks about which the key fits and is turned. e. The shaft of a feather or hair. f. The upright stroke of a typeface or letter. g. Music The vertical line extending from the head of a note. 4. The main line of descent of a family. 5. Linguistics The main part of a word to which affixes are added. 6. Nautical The curved upright beam at the fore of a vessel into which the hull timbers are scarfed to form the prow. 7. The tubular glass structure mounting the filament or electrodes in an incandescent bulb or vacuum tube. | | VERB: | Inflected forms: stemmed, stem·ming, stems
| | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | To have or take origin or descent. | | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To remove the stem of. 2. To provide with a stem. 3. To make headway against: managed to stem the rebellion. | | IDIOM: | from stem to stern From one end to another. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Old English stefn, stemn. See st - in Appendix I. | | SYNONYMS: | stem1, arise, derive, emanate, flow, issue, originate, proceed, rise, spring These verbs mean to come forth or come into being: customs that stem from the past; misery that arose from war; rights that derive from citizenship; disapproval that emanated from the teacher; happiness that flows from their friendship; prejudice that issues from fear; a proposal that originated in the Congress; a mistake that proceeded from carelessness; rebellion that rises in the provinces; new industries that spring up.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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