Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Stern

Stern (stẽrn), n. [AS. stearn a kind of bird. See Starling.] (Zoöl.) The black tern.

Stern, a. [Compar. Sterner; superl. Sternest.] [OE. sterne, sturne, AS. styrne; cf. D. stuurish stern, Sw. stursk refractory. √166.] Having a certain hardness or severity of nature, manner, or aspect; hard; severe; rigid; rigorous; austere; fixed; unchanging; unrelenting; hence, serious; resolute; harsh; as, a sternresolve; a stern necessity; a stern heart; a stern gaze; a stern decree.

The sterne wind so loud gan to rout. Chaucer.

I would outstare the sternest eyes that look. Shak.

When that the poor have cried, Cæsar hath wept; Ambition should be made of sterner stuff. Shak.

Stern as tutors, and as uncles hard. Dryden.

These barren rocks, your stern inheritance. Wordsworth.

Syn. — Gloomy; sullen; forbidding; strict; unkind; hard-hearted; unfeeling; cruel; pitiless.

Stern, n. [Icel. stjōrn a steering, or a doubtful AS. steórn. √166. See Steer, v. t.] 1. The helm or tiller of a vessel or boat; also, the rudder. [Obs.] Chaucer.

2. (Naut.) The after or rear end of a ship or other vessel, or of a boat; the part opposite to the stem, or prow.

3. Fig.: The post of management or direction.

And sit chiefest stern of public weal. Shak.

4. The hinder part of anything. Spenser.

5. The tail of an animal; — now used only of the tail of a dog.

By the stern. (Naut.) See By the head, under By.

Stern, a. Being in the stern, or being astern; as, the stern davits.

Stern board (Naut.), a going or falling astern; a loss of way in making a tack; as, to make a stern board. See Board, n., 8 (b). — Stern chase. (Naut.) (a) See under Chase, n. (b) A stern chaser. — Stern chaser (Naut.), a cannon placed in a ship's stern, pointing backward, and intended to annoy a ship that is in pursuit. — Stern fast (Naut.), a rope used to confine the stern of a ship or other vessel, as to a wharf or buoy. — Stern frame (Naut.), the framework of timber forms the stern of a ship. — Stern knee. See Sternson. — Stern port (Naut.), a port, or opening, in the stern of a ship. — Stern sheets (Naut.), that part of an open boat which is between the stern and the aftmost seat of the rowers, — usually furnished with seats for passengers. — Stern wheel, a paddle wheel attached to the stern of the steamboat which it propels.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.