in botany, that part of a plant arising out of the root, and which sustains the leaves, flowers, fruits, &c.

STEM of a ship, that main piece of timber which comes bending from the keel below, where it is scarfed, as they call it; that is, pieced in; and rises compassing right before the forecastle. This stem it is which guides the rake of the ship, and all the butt-ends of the planks are fixed into it. This, in the lection of a first-rate ship, is called the main stem.