Also 4, 7 stemme. [a. ON. stemma (Sw. stämma, Da. stemme) = OHG., MHG., mod.G. stemmen (? Du. stempen to stop the flow of):—OTeut. *stamjan, f. *stam- root of STAMMER v.]
† 1. intr. ? To stop, delay. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 24327. Speke we wald, might had we nan, For-þi we stemmed still als stan.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 905. And loke ȝe stemme no stepe, bot strechez on faste.
1570. Levins, Manip., 60/2. To stemme, intubare [? for titubare].
2. trans. To stop, check; to dam up (a stream, or the like).
When used fig. in phrases like ‘to stem the tide,’ this verb is sometimes confused with STEM v.4, to make headway against.
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 4313. Þere myght na thing thair stem.
1713. Steele, Englishm., No. 28. 184. They were able to stem the proceedings of the Crown when they pleased.
a. 1806. H. K. White, To Friend in Distress, 4. When from my downcast eye I chase the tear, and stem the rising sigh.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, xxi. Little Jacob stemmed the course of two tears.
1855. Paley, Æschylus (1861), Pref. p. xxxiii. Aristophanes evidently saw the tide that was setting strongly in favour of the new candidate for scenic supremacy, and he vainly tried to stem it by the barrier of his ridicule.
1860. Geo. Eliot, Mill on Floss, I. xii. Mr. Glegg … sat down to his milk-porridge, which it was his old frugal habit to stem his morning hunger with.
1883. Froude, in 19th Cent., XIII. 637. It was the Spanish power indisputably which stemmed the Reformation.
3. To set (one’s limbs, hand) firmly.
1827. Hone, Every-day Bk., II. 340. This they do, by stemming themselves with their haunches against the gates. The elephant … stems his knees against the wheels.
1859. Wraxall, trans. R. Houdin, ii. 9. And he stemmed his fist in his side while he held his head impudently high.
b. intr. To stem back: to resist being driven forwards.
1899. N. B. Daily Mail, 12 Dec., 2. When these bullocks reached the threshold of the slaughter-house they stem’d back with their fore-feet…. What made these bullocks stem back?.
4. trans. Mining. To plug or tamp (a hole for blasting).
1791. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 223, note. The stemming a hole for blasting rocks with gunpowder.
1875. J. Taylor, Poems, etc. 35. Often a good shot of the powder well ‘stemmed’ would not remove a capfull of the rock.
1880. J. Lomas, Man. Alkali Trade, 273. At the four corners … a diamond is formed, and thoroughly stemmed with dry fireclay just moistened with tar [etc.]. Ibid., 305. The cover [of the still] is usually formed of segments of stone, and is let and stemmed into a ledge cut in the side stones.
5. To stop, to staunch (bleeding, etc.). Sc.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, X. 351. Be than he had stemmyt full weill his wound.
c. 1550. Clariodus, I. 1021. He with diverse herbis vertewus Stemit his woundis, and stintit the bleiding.
a. 1835. Hogg, Tales & Sk. (1837), VI. 10. John, nevertheless, did all that he could to bind up and stem his cousin’s wounds.
1870. J. Bruce, Gideon, ii. 29. So that the bleeding wound should be stemmed and bound up.
b. intr. Of bleeding: to become staunched.
1844. H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 613. The tail sometimes bleeds for a long time … though usually the bleeding soon stems.
