Naut. Forms: 1 stefn, stefna or -ne, stemn, 5–6 steme, 6–7 stemme, 7 stemb, 7–8 stemm, 6– stem. [OE. stęmn, stęfn str. masc. (also stęfna wk. masc. or stęfne wk. fem.), originally a specific application of STEM sb.1 in the sense ‘tree-trunk.’ The nautical use occurs (sometimes with differentiated form) in several Teut. langs.: OFris. stevene (WFris. stjûwn, NFris. stēven), Du., LG. steven (whence G. steven; MDu. had also steve), OS. stamn, ON. stafn, stamn masc. (whence ME. STAM sb.1), Da. stavn, also (? from LG.) stævn, Sw. (? from LG.) stäf.
After the OE. period the native word does not occur in our quots. until late in the 15th c. though the 14th and 15th c. have several examples of STAM (from the equivalent ON. form) and of the compound FORESTAM. The native form must of course have been preserved in oral tradition alongside the Scandinavian form, which disappears in the 15th c. A few examples of STEVEN are found in Sc. writers of the 16th c.; whether this descends from OE. stęfn, or a late adoption from LG. or Du., cannot be determined].
† 1. The timber at either extremity of a vessel, to which the ends of the side-planks were fastened; the ‘stem’ (in the modern sense) or the stern-post. Hence, either extremity of a vessel, the prow or the stern, Obs.
Beowulf, 212. Beornas on stefn stiʓon.
a. 1000. Andreas, 495. Ic æīre ne ʓeseah æniʓne mann … þe ʓelicne, steoran ofer stæfnan.
10[?]. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 288/1. Puppis, se æftera stemn.
1486. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 16. A plate of Inne for the steme of the same Cokke. Ibid. (1497), 291. The Shippe Kele with the ij stemys belongyng vnto the same.
2. The curved upright timber or piece of metal at the bow of a vessel, into which the planks of the bow are scarfed; = the earlier FORESTAM. False stem: see quot. 1627. Main stem: the ‘stem’ proper as distinguished from the ‘false stem.’
1538. Elyot, Dict., Rostrum,… also the stemme of a ship or boote.
1587. Marlowe, 1st Pt. Tamburl., I. ii. Christian Merchants that with Russian stems Plow vp huge furrowes in the Caspian Sea, Shall vaile to us.
1601. Holland, Pliny, VII. lvi. I. 190. Piseus the Tyrrhene … armed the stem and beake-head of the shippe with sharpe tines and pikes of brasse.
1627. Capt. Smith, Sea Gram., ii. 2. At the one end is skarfed into it the Stem, which is a great timber wrought compassing. Ibid., ix. 53. If her stem be too flat … fix another stem before it, and that is called a false stem, which will make her rid more way and beare a better saile.
1652. Needham, trans. Selden’s Mare Cl., 54. As far as Nereus doth, to Ashur’s Land Plow out a passage with his stemm’s and oars.
1668. Lond. Gaz., No. 236/1. But the Flyboat breaking her Stemm, sunk … suddenly.
1748. Anson’s Voy., III. vii. 367. The leak … was principally occasioned by one of the bolts being wore away and loose in the joining of the stern, where it was scarfed.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVII. 377/2. The height and rake of the stem and sternpost.
1830. Hedderwick, Mar. Archit., 246. From the foremost perpendicular, set off all the rakes of the stem inside and out.
1865. Kingsley, Herew., vi. He rode back to the ship,… and wondered at her carven stem and stern.
1869. Sir E. Reed, Shipbuild., iii. 48. The stem of an iron ship … is usually a prolongation of the keel.
1889. Welch, Text Bk. Naval Archit., vii. 98. The stems of all ships complete, as it were, the framing at the fore part of the vessel.
b. Phrases. From stem to stern († from stern to stem, † from post to stem): along the whole length of a ship. To give (a ship) the stem: to ram. † Stem for stem: (of ships) abreast, exactly alongside each other. Stem on: so as to strike with the stem. Stem to stem: (of ships) with their stems facing each other.
1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII. (1550), 21 b. Sir Henry Guilford and sir Charles Brandon … beyng in the Souereigne,… laied stemme to stemme to the Caricke.
1622. Sir R. Hawkins, Voy. S. Sea, xxxiii. 80. Wee had … our shippe Calked from Post to Stemme.
1627. Capt. J. Smith, Sea Gram., ii. 2. Pulling it from sterne to stem.
a. 1642. Sir W. Monson, Naval Tracts, VI. (1704), 535/1. The Ship gave Stem to a Whale that lay a sleep…; it was a Stem upon a Whale.
1644. Manwayring, Seamans Dict., 102. To give a ship the Stem, that is to run right upon her with the Stem.
1667. Lond. Gaz., No. 120/1. Three Ulushing Men of War … immediately came roundly up with us, Stemb to Stemb.
1670. Covel, in Early Voy. Levant (Hakl. Soc.), 129. There were five great ships a Head, coming stem for stem towards us.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, I. 164. Orontes Barque … From Stem to Stern, by Waves was overborn.
1836. Thirlwall, Greece, III. xxvi. 431. The Athenians … would be forced to meet them … stem to stem.
1842. Tennyson, Morte d’Arthur, 194. Then saw they how there hove a dusky barge, Dark as a funeral scarf from stem to stern.
1842. Lever, Jack Hinton, ii. The Sea ran high, and swept the little craft from stem to stern.
1880. Daily Tel., 7 Sept., 3/3. Steer her straight, good captain, stem on to the mark, and wear her round smart.
1884. Manch. Exam., 24 Nov., 6/1. My little boat … has been driven full tilt, stem on, against a rock in mid-stream.
1885. Daily Tel., 21 May, 5/3. The cry was, ‘Give privateers the stem!’ that is, run them down.
1885. Law Times Rep., LIII. 55/1. The Earl of Beaconsfield struck the J. M. Stevens on the port quarter stem on.
3. The prow, bows, or the whole forepart of a vessel.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 195. Turnynge the stemmes or forpartes of their shyppes ageynst the streame.
1676. Wood, Jrnl., in Acc. Sev. Late Voy., I. (1694), 187. So we lay South-southwest with the Stem.
1710. W. King, Heathen Gods & Heroes, xii. (1722), 49. Ships, which had Stemms and Decks that resembled Towers.
1711. W. Sutherland, Shipbuild. Assist., 164.
1833. M. Scott, Tom Cringle, ii. The spray from the stem was flashing over me.
1878. Masque of Poets, 122. While her stem peeled the scum as an apple.
1898. Encycl. Sport, II. 298/1. (Rowing), Stem, the bows of a boat.
4. attrib. and Comb., as in stem-end, -head; stem-beat adj.; stemwards adv. Also stem-knee (see quot.); † stem-lock (meaning obscure: cf. ON. stafnlok ‘the locker in the stem’ (Vigf.), and stampneloker s.v. STAM sb.1); stem-mould, the mold (MOULD sb.3 1 b) for shaping the stem of a vessel; stem-piece (see quots.); stem-post = sense 2; † stem-rudder, ? a false stem.
1627. May, Lucan, II. D 1 b. The *stemme beat sea with a vast murmur grones.
1611. Cotgr., Piquant,… the nose, beake, or *stem-end of a ship.
1637. Heywood, Royall Ship, 40. Upon the *stemme-head there is Cupid,… bestriding, and bridling a Lyon.
1884. Daily News, 13 Nov., 5/1. They all clung to the stemhead, the only part of the lugger which kept above water.
1863. A. Young, Naut. Dict., 388. *Stem-knees, crooked pieces of timber, the bolting of which connects the keel with the stem.
1532. Privy Purse Exp. Hen. VIII. (1827), 211. Paied to the said Carter for half a steme and for a *steme locke to the bote, iiij s.
1830. Hedderwick, Mar. Archit., 257. Draw the inside and outside of the rabbet fair by the *stem-mould.
c. 1860. H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 67. What is the *stem piece for? It lies between the knight heads, and strengthens that part of the ship which the bowsprit passes through.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2373. Stem-piece (Shipbuilding), a piece in front of the stem, into which the main piece of the head is stepped.
1841. Penny Cycl., XXI. 393/1. At A and B, the extremities of the keel, the stern-post, and *stem-post are set up.
1664. E. Bushnell, Shipwright, 60. You may … measure the content of the Keel and Post and *Stem-rudder, all of it that is without the Plank and under the water line.
1665. Hooke, Microgr., 45. The mouth of it open from the *stemwards.
1892. Illustr. Lond. News, 17 Dec., 774/3. His course, whether stemwards or sternwards, was steadily south.
