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Entry 8 senses · 4 variants Webster, 1913

Stern

/stûrn/ · IPA /stɝn/
01 n. The black tern.
  1. 1.
    The black tern.(Zool.)
02 a. Having a certain hardness or severity of nature, manner, or aspect; hard; severe; rigid; rigorous; austere; fixed; unchanging; unrelenting;…
  1. 1.
    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, Caesar 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.
03 n. The helm or tiller of a vessel or boat; also, the rudder.
  1. 1.
    The helm or tiller of a vessel or boat; also, the rudder.[Obs.]
  2. 2.
    The after or rear end of a ship or other vessel, or of a boat; the part opposite to the stem, or prow.(Naut.)
  3. 3.
    Fig.: The post of management or direction.
    “And sit chiefest stern of public weal.” — Shak.
  4. 4.
    The hinder part of anything.
  5. 5.
    The tail of an animal; -- now used only of the tail of a dog.
Phrases & compounds
By the stern — See By the head, under By.
04 a. Being in the stern, or being astern; as, the stern davits.
  1. 1.
    Being in the stern, or being astern; as, the stern davits.
Phrases & compounds
Stern board — 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 — See under Chase, n.
Stern chaser — a cannon placed in a ship's stern, pointing backward, and intended to annoy a ship that is in pursuit.
Stern fast — a rope used to confine the stern of a ship or other vessel, as to a wharf or buoy.
Stern frame — the framework of timber forms the stern of a ship.
Stern knee — See Sternson.
Stern port — a port, or opening, in the stern of a ship.
Stern sheets — 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.