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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; Ambiti…

Having a paddle wheel at the stern; as, a stern-wheel steamer.

A steamboat having a stern wheel instead of side wheels. [Colloq. U.S.]

Stern. [R.] Shak.

Of or pertaining to the sternum; in the region of the sternum. Sternal ribs. See the Note under Rib, n., 1.

A sulphide of silver and iron, occurring in soft flexible laminæ varying in color from brown to black.

One of the segments of the sternum. -- Ster"ne*bral, a.

Having a stern of a particular shape; -- used in composition; as, square-sterned.

A director. [Obs. & R.] Dr. R. Clerke.

With the stern, instead of the bow, in advance; hence, figuratively, in an awkward, blundering manner. A fatal genius for going sternforemost. Lowell.

The sternum of an arthropod somite.

In a stern manner.

Farthest in the rear; farthest astern; as, the sternmost ship in a convoy.

The quality or state of being stern.

A combining form used in anatomy to indicate connection with, or relation to, the sternum; as, sternocostal, sternoscapular.

Of or pertaining to the sternum and the coracoid.

Of or pertaining to the sternum and the ribs; as, the sternocostal cartilages.

Of or pertaining to the sternum and the hyoid bone or cartilage.

Of or pertaining to the sternum and the mastoid process.

Of or pertaining to the sternum and the thyroid cartilage.