stern1 (stern)

[ No Man was more gentle where there was Submi ion; where Opposition, no Man more stern. Baker , Chronicles, p. 132. And sterner hearts alone may feel The wound that time can never heal. Byron, The Giaour. 2. Characterized by severity or rigor; especially, resulting from or expre ive of harshne : as, a stern reply; a stern glance; a stern rebuke. He herd thair strakes, that war ful sterin. Ywaine and Gawin , 1. 3219. ( Hall i well .) If wolves had at thy gate howl'd that stern time, Thou shouldst have said, "Good porter, turn the key." Shak ., Lear, iii. 7. 63. Gods and men Fear'd her stern frown. Milton , Comus, 1. 446. 3. Grim or forbidding in aspect; gloomy; repelling. In pa ing through these stern and lofty mountains, their path was often along the bottom of a baranco, or deep rocky valley. Irving, Granada, p. 88. 4. Rough; violent; tumultuous; fierce. The werre wox in that won wonderly stern . A lisa under of Macedoine (E. É. T. S.), 1. 337. Those stern waves, which like huge mountains roll. Drayton, Polyolbion, i. 435. 5. Rigid; stringent; strict. Subjected to stern discipline by the rigid enforcement of uniform motives. Maudsley , Body and Will, p. 8. sterilis, barren, sterile: see sterile.) The state or character of being sterile. ( a ) Lack of fertility; unproductive ne ; unfruitfulne , as of land, labor, etc. For the Soil of Spain, the Fruitfulne of their Vallies recompences the Sterility of their Hills. Howell , Letters, I. iii. 32. (b) Lack of fecundity; barrenne : said of animals or plants. Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend To make this creature fruitful! Into her womb convey sterility ! Shak ., Lear, i. 4. 300. accepted statement is that these merchants were called Easterlings as coming from "the east parts of Germany" (Camden), and that the coin received its name from them; but the similarity appears to be accidental, and the statement, besides other deficiencies, fails to explain the MHG. name, which could not have meant 'Easterling.' It seems more probable that the MHG. word is, like the rest, derived from the ME. word, which must then be due, in spite of unexplained difficulties, to Easter The hamur bot he sterne and gret That drof the nayles thorow hond and fete. Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 184. Of bak & of brest al were his bod i sturne. Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 148. 7. Firm; unyielding; inflexible; hard. When that the poor have cried, Cæsar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff. Shak . , J. C., iii. 2. 97. The sterner sex. See sex1.=Syn. 1. Severe, Harsh, Strict, etc. See austere.-1 and 2. Unrelenting, uncompromising, inflexible. stern