1. subst. The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors.
2. subst. A branch of a family.
3. subst. An advanced or leading position; the lookout.
4. subst. (botany) The above-ground stalk (technically axis) of a vascular plant, and certain anatomically similar, below-ground organs such as rhizomes, bulbs, tubers, and corms.
5. subst. A slender supporting member of an individual part of a plant such as a flower or a leaf; also, by analogy, the shaft of a feather.
the stem of an apple or a cherry
6. subst. A narrow part on certain man-made objects, such as a wine glass, a tobacco pipe, a spoon.
7. subst. (linguistics) The main part of an uninflected word to which affixes may be added to form inflections of the word. A stem often has a more fundamental root. Systematic conjugations and declensions deri
8. subst. (slang) A person's leg.
9. subst. (typography) A vertical stroke of a letter.
10. subst. (music) A vertical stroke marking the length of a note in written music.
11. subst. (nautical) The vertical or nearly vertical forward extension of the keel, to which the forward ends of the planks or strakes are attached.
12. subst. Component on a bicycle that connects the handlebars to the bicycle fork
13. subst. (anatomy) A part of an anatomic structure considered without its possible branches or ramifications.
14. subst. (slang) A crack pipe; or the long, hollow portion of a similar pipe (i.e. meth pipe) resembling a crack pipe.
15. subst. (chiefly British) A winder on a clock, watch, or similar mechanism
16. v. To remove the stem from.
to stem cherries; to stem tobacco leaves
17. v. To be caused or derived; to originate.
The current crisis stems from the short-sighted politics of the previous government.
18. v. To descend in a family line.
19. v. To direct the stem (of a ship) against; to make headway against.
20. v. (obsolete) To hit with the stem of a ship; to ram.
21. v. To ram (clay, etc.) into a blasting hole.
22. v. To stop, hinder (for instance, a river or blood).
to stem a tide
23. v. (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.