The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Stern \Stern\, n. [AS. stearn a kind of bird. See Starling.]
   (Zool.)
   The black tern.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Stern \Stern\, a. [Compar. Sterner; superl. Sternest.] [OE.
   sterne, sturne, AS. styrne; cf. D. stuurish stern, Sw. stursk
   refractory. [root]166.]
   Having a certain hardness or severity of nature, manner, or
   aspect; hard; severe; rigid; rigorous; austere; fixed;
   unchanging; unrelenting; hence, serious; resolute; harsh; as,
   a sternresolve; a stern necessity; a stern heart; a stern
   gaze; a stern decree.
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         The sterne wind so loud gan to rout.     --Chaucer.
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         I would outstare the sternest eyes that look. --Shak.
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         When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept;
         Ambition should be made of sterner stuff. --Shak.
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         Stern as tutors, and as uncles hard.     --Dryden.
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         These barren rocks, your stern inheritance.
                                                  --Wordsworth.
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   Syn: Gloomy; sullen; forbidding; strict; unkind;
        hard-hearted; unfeeling; cruel; pitiless.
        [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Stern \Stern\, n. [Icel. stj[=o]rn a steering, or a doubtful AS.
   ste['o]rn. [root]166. See Steer, v. t.]
   1. The helm or tiller of a vessel or boat; also, the rudder.
      [Obs.] --Chaucer.
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   2. (Naut.) The after or rear end of a ship or other vessel,
      or of a boat; the part opposite to the stem, or prow.
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   3. Fig.: The post of management or direction.
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            And sit chiefest stern of public weal. --Shak.
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   4. The hinder part of anything. --Spenser.
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   5. The tail of an animal; -- now used only of the tail of a
      dog.
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   By the stern. (Naut.) See By the head, under By.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Stern \Stern\, a.
   Being in the stern, or being astern; as, the stern davits.
   [1913 Webster]

   Stern board (Naut.), a going or falling astern; a loss of
      way in making a tack; as, to make a stern board. See
      Board, n., 8
   (b) .

   Stern chase. (Naut.)
   (a) See under Chase, n.
   (b) A stern chaser.

   Stern chaser (Naut.), a cannon placed in a ship's stern,
      pointing backward, and intended to annoy a ship that is in
      pursuit.

   Stern fast (Naut.), a rope used to confine the stern of a
      ship or other vessel, as to a wharf or buoy.

   Stern frame (Naut.), the framework of timber forms the
      stern of a ship.

   Stern knee. See Sternson.

   Stern port (Naut.), a port, or opening, in the stern of a
      ship.

   Stern sheets (Naut.), that part of an open boat which is
      between the stern and the aftmost seat of the rowers, --
      usually furnished with seats for passengers.

   Stern wheel, a paddle wheel attached to the stern of the
      steamboat which it propels.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

stern
    adj 1: of a stern or strict bearing or demeanor; forbidding in
           aspect; "an austere expression"; "a stern face" [syn:
           austere, stern]
    2: not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty; "grim
       determination"; "grim necessity"; "Russia's final hour, it
       seemed, approached with inexorable certainty"; "relentless
       persecution"; "the stern demands of parenthood" [syn: grim,
       inexorable, relentless, stern, unappeasable,
       unforgiving, unrelenting]
    3: severe and unremitting in making demands; "an exacting
       instructor"; "a stern disciplinarian"; "strict standards"
       [syn: stern, strict, exacting]
    4: severely simple; "a stark interior" [syn: austere,
       severe, stark, stern]
    n 1: the rear part of a ship [syn: stern, after part,
         quarter, poop, tail]
    2: United States concert violinist (born in Russia in 1920)
       [syn: Stern, Isaac Stern]
    3: the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on; "he
       deserves a good kick in the butt"; "are you going to sit on
       your fanny and do nothing?" [syn: buttocks, nates,
       arse, butt, backside, bum, buns, can,
       fundament, hindquarters, hind end, keister,
       posterior, prat, rear, rear end, rump, stern,
       seat, tail, tail end, tooshie, tush, bottom,
       behind, derriere, fanny, ass]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

122 Moby Thesaurus words for "stern":
   Spartan, Spartanic, adamant, adamantine, afterpart, afterpiece,
   arse, ascetic, ass, astringent, austere, authoritarian, back,
   back door, back seat, back side, backside, beam, behind, bottom,
   breech, bum, butt, can, cast-iron, cheeks, churlish, counter,
   crabbed, crabby, critical, crusty, demanding, derriere, determined,
   dour, exacting, exigent, fanny, fantail, firm, flinty, forbidding,
   frowning, gloomy, grave, grim, gruff, hard, hard-core, harsh, heel,
   hind end, hind part, hindhead, immovable, immutable, implacable,
   impliable, inclement, inelastic, inexorable, inflexible,
   intransigent, iron, irreconcilable, keister, lugubrious,
   meticulous, mortified, obdurate, occiput, poop, posterior, postern,
   prat, rear, rear end, rearward, relentless, resolute, reverse,
   rigid, rigorous, rock-ribbed, rough, rudderpost, rugged, rump,
   rusty-dusty, saturnine, serious, severe, sour, steadfast, steely,
   stiff, stony, strict, stringent, taciturn, tail, tail end,
   tailpiece, tough, tuchis, tush, tushy, unaffected, unalterable,
   unbending, unchangeable, uncompromising, unforgiving, ungentle,
   ungiving, unmoved, unrelenting, unremitting, unsparing,
   unsympathetic, unyielding