Stern

Stern

The stern is the rear or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite of the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Originally, the term only referred to the aft port section of the ship, but eventually came to refer to the entire back of a vessel. The stern end of a ship is indicated with a white navigation light at night.

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Famous quotes containing the word stern:

    It was her stern necessity: all things
    Are of one pattern made; bird, beast, and flower,
    Deceive us, seeming to be many things,
    And are but one. Beheld far off, they differ
    As God and devil; bring them to the mind,
    They dull its edge with their monotony.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    The rich earth, of its own self made rich,
    Fertile of its own leaves and days and wars,
    Of its brown wheat rapturous in the wind,
    The nature of its women in the air,
    The stern voices of its necessitous men,
    This chorus as of those that wanted to live.
    Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)

    We tried pathetic appeals to the wandering waiters, who told us “they are coming, Sir” in a soothing tone—and we tried stern remonstrance, & they then said “they are coming, Sir” in a more injured tone; & after all such appeals they retired into their dens, and hid themselves behind sideboards and dish-covers, still the chops came not. We agreed that of all virtues a waiter can display, that of a retiring disposition is quite the least desirable.
    Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)