The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Stem \Stem\, Steem \Steem\, v. i.
   To gleam. [Obs.]
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         His head bald, that shone as any glass, . . .
         [And] stemed as a furnace of a leed [caldron].
                                                  --Chaucer.
   [1913 Webster] Stem

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Stem \Stem\, Steem \Steem\, n.
   A gleam of light; flame. [Obs.]
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Stem \Stem\ (st[e^]m), n. [AS. stemn, stefn, staefn; akin to OS.
   stamn the stem of a ship, D. stam stem, steven stem of a
   ship, G. stamm stem, steven stem of a ship, Icel. stafn,
   stamn, stem of a ship, stofn, stomn, stem, Sw. stam a tree
   trunk, Dan. stamme. Cf. Staff, Stand.]
   1. The principal body of a tree, shrub, or plant, of any
      kind; the main stock; the part which supports the branches
      or the head or top.
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            After they are shot up thirty feet in length, they
            spread a very large top, having no bough nor twig in
            the trunk or the stem.                --Sir W.
                                                  Raleigh.
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            The lowering spring, with lavish rain,
            Beats down the slender stem and breaded grain.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   2. A little branch which connects a fruit, flower, or leaf
      with a main branch; a peduncle, pedicel, or petiole; as,
      the stem of an apple or a cherry.
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   3. The stock of a family; a race or generation of
      progenitors. "All that are of noble stem." --Milton.
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            While I do pray, learn here thy stem
            And true descent.                     --Herbert.
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   4. A branch of a family.
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            This is a stem
            Of that victorious stock.             --Shak.
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   5. (Naut.) A curved piece of timber to which the two sides of
      a ship are united at the fore end. The lower end of it is
      scarfed to the keel, and the bowsprit rests upon its upper
      end. Hence, the forward part of a vessel; the bow.
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   6. Fig.: An advanced or leading position; the lookout.
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            Wolsey sat at the stem more than twenty years.
                                                  --Fuller.
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   7. Anything resembling a stem or stalk; as, the stem of a
      tobacco pipe; the stem of a watch case, or that part to
      which the ring, by which it is suspended, is attached.
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   8. (Bot.) That part of a plant which bears leaves, or
      rudiments of leaves, whether rising above ground or wholly
      subterranean.
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   9. (Zool.)
      (a) The entire central axis of a feather.
      (b) The basal portion of the body of one of the
          Pennatulacea, or of a gorgonian.
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   10. (Mus.) The short perpendicular line added to the body of
       a note; the tail of a crotchet, quaver, semiquaver, etc.
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   11. (Gram.) The part of an inflected word which remains
       unchanged (except by euphonic variations) throughout a
       given inflection; theme; base.
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   From stem to stern (Naut.), from one end of the ship to the
      other, or through the whole length.

   Stem leaf (Bot.), a leaf growing from the stem of a plant,
      as contrasted with a basal or radical leaf.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Stem \Stem\, v. t.
   1. To remove the stem or stems from; as, to stem cherries; to
      remove the stem and its appendages (ribs and veins) from;
      as, to stem tobacco leaves.
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   2. To ram, as clay, into a blasting hole.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Stem \Stem\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stemmed; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Stemming.] [Either from stem, n., or akin to stammer; cf.
   G. stemmen to press against.]
   To oppose or cut with, or as with, the stem of a vessel; to
   resist, or make progress against; to stop or check the flow
   of, as a current. "An argosy to stem the waves." --Shak.
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         [They] stem the flood with their erected breasts.
                                                  --Denham.
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         Stemmed the wild torrent of a barbarous age. --Pope.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Stem \Stem\, v. i.
   To move forward against an obstacle, as a vessel against a
   current.
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         Stemming nightly toward the pole.        --Milton.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

stem
    n 1: (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are
         removed; "thematic vowels are part of the stem" [syn:
         root, root word, base, stem, theme, radical]
    2: a slender or elongated structure that supports a plant or
       fungus or a plant part or plant organ [syn: stalk, stem]
    3: cylinder forming a long narrow part of something [syn:
       shank, stem]
    4: the tube of a tobacco pipe
    5: front part of a vessel or aircraft; "he pointed the bow of
       the boat toward the finish line" [syn: bow, fore, prow,
       stem]
    6: a turn made in skiing; the back of one ski is forced outward
       and the other ski is brought parallel to it [syn: stem
       turn, stem]
    v 1: grow out of, have roots in, originate in; "The increase in
         the national debt stems from the last war"
    2: cause to point inward; "stem your skis"
    3: stop the flow of a liquid; "staunch the blood flow"; "stem
       the tide" [syn: stem, stanch, staunch, halt]
    4: remove the stem from; "for automatic natural language
       processing, the words must be stemmed"