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Chambers (1908)

Stem

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This edition’s origin note

[A.S. stæfn, stefn, stemn, from stæf, a staff; Ger. stab.]

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Stem, stem, n. the ascending axis of a plant, which usually bears leaves and flowers, and maintains communication between the roots and the leaves: the little branch supporting the flower or fruit: a race or family: branch of a family.—n. Stem′-leaf, a leaf growing from the stem.—adj. Stem′less (bot.), wanting a stem, or having it so little developed as to seem to be wanting.—ns. Stem′let, a little or young stem; Stem′ma, a pedigree or family tree: an ocellus.—adjs. Stem′matous; Stemmed. [A.S. stæfn, stefn, stemn, from stæf, a staff; Ger. stab.]

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  • Historical scholarship from 1908; not current consensus or editorial verification.
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  • Chambers consulted earlier dictionaries including Skeat and the New English Dictionary; overlapping claims are not independent scholarly votes.

An old root, gloss or concordance number does not determine the meaning of every later use. A word’s origin and its modern meaning are different questions.

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Edition, rights and traceability

Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language
Thomas Davidson (editor)
1908

Public-domain-US ↗ · United States

Publisher marks these historical texts public domain in the USA. Transformed book text excludes Gutenberg branding; source attribution is a bibliographic acknowledgment. No non-US public-domain determination is made.

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