stelochite r, c .29 
Stelochite (stel'o-kit), Setsteleehite. stem* (stem), v. t.; pret. and pp. stemmed, ppr. 
stelography(ste-]og ra-fi), . [< LGr.rm^ojpn- ntnuming. [< sfc,l, ,,.] To remove the stem 
*ia, an inscription on a stele or upright slab, < of; separate from the stem: 
Gr. arff/.r/, a stele (see steleS), + -;p^/,< ;p<i<pi', as, to sti-m tobacco. 
write.] The practice of writing or inscribing stem'-* (stem), n. [< ME. 
on steles or pillars. 
Jacob's pillar . . . thus engraved . . . gave probably 
the origin to the invention of tfdoffmplu/. 
Stack/muse., Hist. Bible, p. 323. 
Stem 1 (stem), M. [< ME. xtem, stum, < AS. strum, 
stefn, stiefn, also stofn (> E. dial, xtoriu), stem, 
trunk (of a tree), = D. xtaiu, stem, trunk, stock 
(of a tree or family ), = MLG. /;//,. *ta mini-, stem, 
stock, = OHG. MHG. stam (tttamm-), G. stimuli. 
stem (of atree), trunk, tree, stock, race, = led. 
stofn, stonin, stem, trunk of a tree, = Sw. slum 
stem, stam, < AS. ~*xtcn>u, 
xti-fii, "xtiffn, also stft'iia, 
xl/i'fiiii, the prow of a Up 
(stedrstefn, the poop, lit. 
'steer-stem'), = OS. slinini 
= D. stem, = MLG. LG. 
xti-i-i-n, prow of a ship (> G. 
Steven, stem (vordcr-xtfrrn, 
'fore stem,' prow, hintrr- 
steven, 'hind stem,' stem- 
post)), = Icel. sto/n, staniH, 
= Dan. stoK/we (m comp. stom-), stem, trunk, also *te/i, stemni'siera. of a 
stock (of a tree), stock, race, family (also with ship (prow or stern ) = Dan 
some variation of form in a particular sense, stevn, stam = Sw. xta'f prow 
'the prow of a vessel': seetttem't); =OIr. tamon, 
Ir. tamluln (for *xtamou), stem, trunk; cf. Gr. 
arafivof, an earthen jar; with formative -mn-, 
< -\/ sta, stand : see stand. Not related to staff, 
except remotely.] 1. 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. The stem ia composed of fibrous, spiral, and cel- 
lular tissues, arranged in various ways ; it typically as- 
sumes a cylindrical form and a perpendicular position, and 
bears upon it the remaining aerial parts of the plant. Its 
form and direction, however, are subject to much variation 
in particular cases. In regard to internal structure, there 
are three principal modifications of stems characteristic 
of three of the great natural classes into which the vegeta- 
ble kingdom is divided namely, exogens. endogens, and 
acrogens. Stems are herbaceous or woody, solid or hol- 
low, jointed or unjointed, branched or simple. Sometimes 
they are so weak as to be procumbent, although more gen- 
erally firm and erect ; sometimes weak stems are upheld 
by twining or by other methods of climbing. In some 
Slants the stem is so short as to seem to be wanting, the 
saves and flower-stalks appearing to spring from the top 
of the root. There are also stems, such as the rhizome and 
tuber, which, being subterranean, have been mistaken for 
roots. See cuts under baobab, esparto, internode, pipsis- 
sewa, sna/ceroot, rhizome, and tuber. 
2. The stalk which supports the flower or the 
fruit of a plant ; the peduncle of the fructifica- 
tion, or the pedicel of a flower; the petiole or 
leaf-stem. See cuts under pedicel, peduncle, 
and petiole. 
Two lovely berries moulded on one stem. 
Shale., M. N. D., iii. 2. 211. 
For I maun crush amang the stoure 
Thy slender stem. 
Burns, To a Mountain Daisy. 
3. The stock of a family ; a race ; ancestry. 
Ye may all, that are of noble stem 
Approach, and kiss her sacred vesture's hem. 
Milton, Arcades, I. 82. 
4. A branch of a family ; an offshoot. 
Richard Plantagenet, . . . 
Sweet stem from York's great stock. 
Shale., 1 Hen. VI., ii. 5. 41. 
5. Anything resembling the stem of a plant. 
Specifically (a) The handle of a tool. HalKwell. [Prov. 
Eng.] (6) That part of a vase, cup, or goblet which unites 
the body to the foot or base, in examples where the body 
is not immediately set upon the latter. 
Wine-glasses or goblets are classified by the nature of 
their stems, or by the nature of their feet. 
//. J. Powett, Glass-Making, p. 61. 
(c) In type-founding, the thick stroke or body-mark of a 
roman or italic letter. See cut under type, (a) In a vehi- 
cle, a bar to which the bow of a falling hood is hinged. 
(e) The projecting rod of a reciprocating valve, serving 
to guide it in its action. See cut under slide-valve. (/) In 
zool. and anat., any slender, especially axial, part like the 
stem of a plant ; a stalk, stipe, rachis, footstalk, etc. (g) In 
ornith., the whole shaft of a feather. (A) In entom., the 
base of a clavate antenna, including all the joints except 
the enlarged outer ones : used especially in descriptions 
of the Lepidoptera. 
6. In musical notation, a vertical line added to 
the head of certain kinds of notes. Of the kinds 
of note now in use, all but two, the breve and the semi- 
breve, have stems. It may be directed either upward or 
(fraiu-stam, 'fore stem.' 
prow, bakxtHm, 'back stem,' 
stem); a particular use, with 
variations of form, of AS. 
stemn, stffn, E. stem 1 , etc., 
stem, trunk, post : see slt-m ' . 
The n.-i lit . use in E. is prob. 
in part of Scand. origin.] 1 . 
A curved piece of timber or 
metal to which the two sides 
of a ship are united at the 
foremost end. The lower end 
of it is scarfed or riveted to the 
keel, and the bowsprit, when pres- 
ent, rests on its upper end. In 
wooden ships it is frequently called 
the main stein, to distinguish it 
from the false stem, or cutwater. 
Stein and allied parts. 
S, stem; K, keel; A, 
apron ; D, deadwood ; 
ss, stemson; DH, deck- 
hooks; BH, breast-hooks; 
si', stem-piece, or inde- 
pendent piece ; Ml 1 , 
main piece, or lace- 
piece; BP, bobstay-piece ; 
BWS. bowsprit ; G.Kripe ; 
F, false keel. (The dot- 
ted lines show bolts.) 
Stemodia 
He sat down to his milk-porridge, which it was his old 
frugal habit to item lii moi uing hunger with. 
Geunje mint. Mill on the Floss, i. 12. 
2. To tamp; make tight, as a joint, with a lute 
or cement. 
Stenr*t, " and r. An old spelling of sti-nm. 
stemapod (stem'a-pod), n. [< Gr. arii/ia, fila- 
ment (see stamen 1 ), + irorf (irot-) = E. foot.'] 
One of the caudal filaments of the caterpillars 
of certain moths, as t'iriiiii and JJctfrocuiu/i/i, 
whose last pair of legs are thus modified into 
deterrent or repugnatorial organs. A. S. 1'ack- 
uril. 
stem-character (stem'kar"ak-ter), n. In f/rnm., 
same as characteristic letter (which see, under 
characteristic), 
Stem-clasping (stem'klas // ping), a. Embracing 
the stem with its base ; amplexicaul, as a leaf 
or petiole. 
stem-climber (stem'kli'mer), 11. In bot., see 
climber^ , L>. 
Stemet, t. A Middle English form of sttam. 
stem-eelworm (stem'eFwerm), n. A minute 
nematoid, 'J'i/lcnclinx ilt'raxtiilrif, which causes 
stem-sickness in certain plants. See Tylen- 
cltHK. 
stem-end (stem'end), M. That part or point in 
a fruit which is attached to the stem: opposed 
to the blossom-end, which frequently bears the 
remains of the calyx, as in a pear or an apple. 
The stem-end is usually inferior to the blossom- 
end in sweetness and flavor. 
stem-head (stem'hed), . In ship-building, the 
top of the stem, or continuation of the forward 
extreme of the keel. 
stem-knee (stem'ne), n. In ship-building, a knee 
The outside of the stem is usually marked with a scale uniting the stem with the keel 
showing the perpendicular height from the keel, for indi- cfpm leaf Cstpiri'lAfl 11 A loof rnwunno- tmm 
eating the draft of water forward. See also cut under "Hf^* (stem let), n. A leaf growing from 
< ne stem ; a caulme leaf. 
Pretious Jewells fecht from far stemless (stem'les), a. [< steml + -less."] Hav- 
.forecastle. 
2. The forward part of a vessel ; the bow. 
Turnynge thertore the stemmes of his shyppes towarde Stemlet (stem'let), n. [< stew. 1 + -let.] A lit- 
the Easte, he affyrmed that he had founde the Ilande of tie stem or stalk ; a young stem. 
Ophir. Peter Martyr (it. in Eden's First Books on _. 
[America, ed. Arber, p. Bfrt. Gives insertion to two multiarticulate ttemlett. 
False stem, a stem fitted closely to the forward side of 
English Cyc., Nat. Hist. Division (1885), III. 87. 
end of the ship to the other, or through the whole length. 
They skip 
From stem to stern; the boatswain whistles. 
Shak., Pericles, iv. 1. 64. 
Stem 2 (stem), v. ; pret. and pp. stemmed, ppr. 
stemming. [< stem 2 , .] I. trans. 1. To dash 
against with the stem (of a vessel). 
They stood off again, and, returning with a good gale, 
they stemmed her upon the quarter, and almost overset 
her. Winthrop, Hist. New England, J. 226. 
2f. To keep (a vessel) on its course ; steer. 
He is the master of true courage that all the time se- 
dately stems the ship. 
Cornelius Nepos in English (1723), Ded. (Encyc. Diet.) 
downward, thus, 
When two voice-parts are writ. 
the main stem, generally sharp, and introduced for the stemma (stem'a), n.; pi. stemmata (-a-ta). [< 
her^peed^ ^cutwater' 1 Ftom stem^o stera T^^'" 8 L ' s , te """ a > < ^r. art/ipa, a wreath, "garland, 
' < arfyeiv, put around, encircle, wreathe, crown.] 
1. A family tree, or pedigree ; specifically, such 
a pedigree made more or less decorative with 
heraldic or other ornaments; also, pedigree in 
general ; order of descent ; family : as, a man 
of the stemma of the Cecils. 2. The simple 
as distinguished from the compound eye of an 
invertebrate; an ocellus: always sessile and 
immovable. 3. One of the facets or corneules 
of a compound eye. 4. In entom., thetubercle 
from which an antenna arises Spurious stem- 
ma, a small ffat space, covered with semi-transparent 
membrane, above the bases of the antenna; of certain Or- 
thoptera : it has been supposed to represent a stemma, or 
simple eye, in a rudimentary form. 
[NL., 
., a fern.] 
A genus of fossil plants, established by Corda, 
under which various stems or trunks of tree- 
ferns have been grouped, but little being known 
in regard to them, except the form of the scars 
or impressions marking the points of attach- 
ment of the petioles. Lesquereux describes remains 
of this kind under the names of Stemmatopteris, Caulop- 
teris, Megaphyton, and Psaronius ; but, as he remarks, 
they could all have been described without inconvenience 
under the name of Caulopteris. These fossil remains are 
common in the coal-measures. See Caulopteris. 
stemmatous (stem'a-tus), a. [< stemma(t-) + 
-OH*.] Pertaining to a stemma, or having its 
,.,.. . MV ... BI , l , u lcc character; ocellar. 
to'thrs^uthwarToTrhrnneTthVwTndTee^dmostE^st" Stemmed (stemd), a. [< stem 1 + -ed?.] Fur- 
erly, and then we stemmed S. W. by S. nished with or bearing a stem : used chiefly in 
Dumpier, Voyages, I. 79. composition : as, a straight-stewwied plant. 
3. To make headway against by sailing or C T 
swimming, as a tide or current; hence, in gen- StemmatopteriS (stem-a-top te-ris), n 
eral, to make headway against (opposition of ' *L*I*Kji a ,' w _ r i eath ' + - 7r 7 p ', f ', 
headway against (opposition < 
any kind). 
The breathless Muse awhile her wearied wings shall ease, 
To get her strength to stem the rough Sabrinian seas. 
Drayton, Polyolbion, iii. 434. 
II. intrans. 1. To make headway (as a ship); 
especially, to make progress in opposition to 
some obstruction, as a current of water or the 
wind. 
They on the trading flood, 
Through the wide Ethiopian to the Cape, 
2. To head ; advance head on. 
At first we could scarce lie S. W., but, being got a degree 
ten on the same staff, the stems of the notes belonging to Stem 3 (stem), v. t. ; pret. and pp. stemmed, ppr. stemmer (stem'er), n. [< stem* + 
the upper part are often directed upward, and those of -*" 
the lower part downward, particularly 
when the parts cross, or both use the 
same note (see figure). The latter note 
is said to have a double stem. See nofel 
13. Also called tail. 
7. Inpliilol., 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 Aerial stem, the above-ground 
axis of a plant, as opposed to the rootstock or other subter- 
ranean form of thestem. Anclpital, compound, erect, 
herbaceous, pituitary, secondary, etc., stem. See 
the adjectives. 
stemming. [< ME. stemmen ; < Icel. stemma = Same as blasting-needle. [Eng.] 2. An im- 
Sw. stamma = Dan. stemme, stem, = OHG. plement used in making joints tight by means 
MHG. stemmen, stemen, G. stemmen, stdmmen, of cement. 
stop, stem, dam; < / stam in stanft, stammer, stemmery (stem'er-i), n.; pi. stemmeries (-iz). 
etc.: see stammer. Not connected with stem 1 [< stem 1 + -cry.'} A factory where tobacco is 
or stow 2 .] 1. To stop; check; dam up, as a stripped from the stem. New York Herald, July 
stream. 17, 1884. [Local, U. S.] 
And loke je stemme no stepe [step], bot strechez on faste, stemming (stem'ing), n. [Verbal n. of stem^ 
Cil 3 e reche to areset [stopping^place], rest 3 e neuer. t ,.] !_ T h e operation of tamping. 2. The 
material used in tamping. [Eng. in both uses.] 
Stemodia (ste-mo'di-a), n. [NL. (Linnus, 
1763), shortened from Stemodiacra (P. Browne, 
1756), so called from the two-forked stamens ; 
< Gr. arfifiuv, taken for 'stamen' (see stamen 1 ), 
Alliterative Poems led. Morris), ii. 905. 
The best way is, ever, not to attempt to stem a torrent, 
but to divert it. . 
A. Hamilton, To Washington (Works, I. 345). 
He who stems a stream with sand. 
Scott, L. of the L, iii. 28. 
