Free translatorFree translator
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Stern   /stərn/   Listen
adjective
Stern  adj.  (compar. sterner; superl. sternest)  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." "I would outstare the sternest eyes that look." "When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; Ambition should be made of sterner stuff." "Stern as tutors, and as uncles hard." "These barren rocks, your stern inheritance."
Synonyms: Gloomy; sullen; forbidding; strict; unkind; hard-hearted; unfeeling; cruel; pitiless.



Stern  adj.  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.



noun
Stern  n.  (Zool.) The black tern.



Stern  n.  
1.
The helm or tiller of a vessel or boat; also, the rudder. (Obs.)
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."
4.
The hinder part of anything.
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.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |





"Stern" Quotes from Famous Books



... wild, was peculiarly romantic and nourished the poetry in his soul." Even a creature of a lower order than philosophers, poets, or even us poor tourists, has been known to feel the chilling influence of Nature in these her wildest forms, and though weaned from softer airs, perhaps reconciled to its stern lot, has cherished in its innermost bosom a memory so warm, so strong, as to assert itself at last with a force that fired and burst the little breast in which it had unconsciously smothered. Witness Campbell's little poem, "The Parrot," the incident of which ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 93, July, 1865 • Various

... no heed paid to his remark, and at last the boy drew a breath full of relief, for he heard steps on the stairs, the sentry's piece rattled, and then the key turned in the lock, and Captain Murray entered, looking very stern. ...
— In Honour's Cause - A Tale of the Days of George the First • George Manville Fenn

... turned his weary steps, there stood in his path the genius of the time, not beautiful, not romantic, to his eyes; not even grand—but stern enough and in grim earnest, demanding of him what he could not give,—the heart and voice of an American citizen in ...
— The New England Magazine Volume 1, No. 6, June, 1886, Bay State Monthly Volume 4, No. 6, June, 1886 • Various

... Stern and erect the buskin'd dame In high dramatick wrath appears, With energy supports her claim And seems to thunder in his ears; While the inveigling comick Fair, With aspect sly and artful air To draw her favourite to her arms Strains every nerve; but as she strives, With the sweet attitude contrives ...
— A Pindarick Ode on Painting - Addressed to Joshua Reynolds, Esq. • Thomas Morrison

... everything else in France bowed down. He had the spirit to tell Lewis the Fourteenth firmly and even rudely, that his Majesty knew Nothing about poetry, and admired verses which were detestable. What was there in Addison's position that could induce the satirist, Whose stern and fastidious temper had been the dread of two generations, to turn sycophant for the first and last time? Nor was Boileau's contempt of modern Latin either injudicious or peevish. He thought, indeed, that no poem of the first order would ever be written in a dead language. ...
— Critical and Historical Essays Volume 2 • Thomas Babington Macaulay


More quotes...



Copyright © 2024 Free Translator.org