1. (

• stem

) grow out of, have roots in, originate in; "The increase in the national debt stems from the last war" ;

2. (

• stem ,

) cause to point inward; "stem your skis" ;

3. (

• stem ,
• stanch ,
• staunch ,
• halt ,

) stop the flow of a liquid; "staunch the blood flow"; "stem the tide" ;

4. (

• stem ,

) remove the stem from; "for automatic natural language processing, the words must be stemmed" ;