n. The body of a tree, shrub, or plant; the firm part which supports the branches; the stock; the stalk; technically, the ascending axis, which ordinarily grows in an opposite direction to the root or descending axis.n. The stalk which supports the flower or the fruit of a plant; the peduncle of the fructification, or the pedicel of a flower; the petiole or leaf-stem. See cuts under pedicel, peduncle, and petiole.n. The stock of a family; a race; ancestry.n. A branch of a family; an offshoot.n. Anything resembling the stem of a plant.n. In type-founding, the thick stroke or body-mark of a roman or italic letter. See cut under type.n. In a vehicle, a bar to which the bow of a falling hood is hinged.n. The projecting rod of a reciprocating valve, serving to guide it in its action. See cut under slide-valve.n. In zoology and anatomy, any slender, especially axial, part like the stem of a plant; a stalk, stipe, rachis, footstalk, etc.n. In ornithology, the whole shaft of a feather.n. In entomology, the base of a clavate antenna, including all the joints except the enlarged outer ones: used especially in descriptions of the Lepidoptera.n. In musical notation, a vertical line added to the head of certain kinds of notes.n. In philology, a derivative from a root, having itself inflected forms, whether of declension or of conjugation, made from it; the unchanged part in a series of inflectional forms, from which the forms are viewed as made by additions; base; crude form.n. See the adjectives.To remove the stem of; separate from the stem: as, to stem tobacco.n. A curved piece of timber or metal to which the two sides of a ship are united at the foremost end.n. The forward part of a vessel; the bow.To dash against with the stem (of a vessel).To keep (a vessel) on its course; steer.To make headway against by sailing or swimming, as a tide or current; hence, in general, to make headway against (opposition of any kind).To make headway (as a ship); especially, to make progress in opposition to some obstruction, as a current of water or the wind.To head; advance head on.To stop; check; dam up, as a stream.To tamp; make tight, as a joint, with a lute or cement.An old spelling of steam.