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(taxonomy) A branch, or group of branches, located outside a family or other cladistic group, but which is more closely related to that group than to any other taxon of the same rank.
An advanced or leading position; the lookout.
1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain;, London: Iohn Williams, →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):
Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.
A narrow part on certain man-made objects, such as a wine glass, a tobacco pipe, a spoon.
1945, E G Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiv:
The praenomen and nomen for the most part consisted of simple stems with the suffix -us or -ius, which correspond to some of the contracted forms in other languages .
2008, Lori Wilde, Rhonda Nelson, Cara Summers, August Harlequin Blaze:
She was perfectly, fuckably proportioned everywhere else, both above and below her waist. A pocket-size Venus, with the longest stems he'd ever seen on someone so dang diminutive.
(music) A premixed portion of a track for use in audio mastering and remixing.
2019, Karl Pedersen, Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard, The Recording, Mixing, and Mastering Reference Handbook, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 268:
Stem mastering processes a mix by breaking it down into several manageable pieces—that is, stereo stems. The stem approach allows the mastering engineer the opportunity to make larger or smaller changes to separate mix elements before the final compression and limiting are applied to the complete mix.
(nautical, precisely) The vertical or nearly vertical forward extension of the keel, to which the forward ends of the planks or strakes are attached.
Both we will walke vpon the loftie cliffes, And Chriſtian Merchants that with Ruſſian ſtems Plow vp huge furrowes in the Caſpian ſea, Shall vaile to vs, as Lords of al the Lake.
(cycling) A component on a bicycle that connects the handlebars to the bicycle fork.
(anatomy) A part of an anatomic structure considered without its possible branches or ramifications.
(slang) A crack pipe; or the long, hollow portion of a similar pipe (i.e. meth pipe) resembling a crack pipe.
(chiefly British) A winder on a clock, watch, or similar mechanism.
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
As when two warlike Brigandines at sea, / With murdrous weapons arm'd to cruell fight, / Doe meete together on the watry lea, / They stemme ech other with so fell despight, / That with the shocke of their owne heedlesse might, / Their wooden ribs are shaken nigh a sonder
stem (third-person singular simple presentstems, present participlestemming, simple past and past participlestemmed)
(transitive) To stop, hinder (for instance, a river or blood).
to stem a tide
1636 (date written), John Denham, “The Destruction of Troy, an Essay upon the Second Book of VirgilsÆneis”, in Poems and Translations, with The Sophy, London: ">…] for H Herringman, published 1668, →OCLC:
stem the flood with their erected breasts.
1711 May, , An Essay on Criticism, London: W Lewis; and sold by W Taylor, T Osborn, and J Graves, →OCLC:
Stemm'd the wild torrent of a barbarous age.
(skiing) To move the feet apart and point the tips of the skis inward in order to slow down the speed or to facilitate a turn.
In rock climbing, to use a stance with the feet spread apart, bracing them in opposite directions against the two walls of a chimney or dihedral.
2015 May 29, BBC News, How do US black students perform at school?:
Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields are a particular cause for concern because within them there are more pronounced stereotypes, extreme competitiveness and gender inequities regarding the abilities and competencies of black male and female students.