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:

    To most men, experience is like the stern lights of a ship, which illumine only the track it has passed.
    Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)

    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)

    Me in my vow’d
    Picture the sacred wall declares t’have hung
    My dank and dropping weeds
    To the stern God of Sea.
    Horace [Quintus Horatius Flaccus] (65–8)