Definition of stem:

part of speech: verb

To put a stop to; to resist; to make progress against, as a current.

part of speech: noun

The strong curved timber to which the two sides of a ship are united in front, the whole having a wedge- like appearance; the prow; from stem to stern, from the front to the back of a ship.

Usage examples:

• Even the Long Arrow, now that his outburst was past, closed his lips over the stem of his pipe and gazed at the smoke. Samuel Merwin in "The Road to Frontenac".

• Men are not to consider the lilies simply to admire their beauty, to dream over the delicate strength and grace of stem and leaf. Henry Drummond in "Natural Law in the Spiritual World".