make up vs stem

make up

verb
  • To constitute, to compose. 

  • To constitute the components of a whole. 

  • To draw near to, approach to. 

  • To apply cosmetics. 

  • To compensate (for). 

  • To make peace, to settle a dispute. 

  • To resolve or settle an argument, dispute, conflict, or fight (e.g., with someone). 

  • To make social or romantic advances to; to pay court to. 

  • To invent, to imagine, to concoct 

  • To prepare (someone) for a theatrical performance by means of costume, cosmetics, etc. 

  • To put together (a substance, material, garment, medicine, etc.) into a specific form; to assemble. 

  • To compensate for (a deficiency, defect, etc.); to supply (something missing). 

  • To invent or fabricate (a story, claim, etc.). 

  • To apply cosmetics or makeup to (a face, facial feature). 

  • To compile or draw up (a list, document, etc.). 

stem

verb
  • To be caused or derived; to originate. 

  • To direct the stem (of a ship) against; to make headway against. 

  • To ram (clay, etc.) into a blasting hole. 

  • To move the feet apart and point the tips of the skis inward in order to slow down the speed or to facilitate a turn. 

  • To stop, hinder (for instance, a river or blood). 

  • To descend in a family line. 

  • To remove the stem from. 

noun
  • A lesbian, chiefly African-American, exhibiting both stud and femme traits. 

  • A branch of a family. 

  • A component on a bicycle that connects the handlebars to the bicycle fork. 

  • The penis. 

  • A slender supporting member of an individual part of a plant such as a flower or a leaf; also, by analogy, the shaft of a feather. 

  • A premixed portion of a track for use in audio mastering and remixing. 

  • A person's leg. 

  • The vertical or nearly vertical forward extension of the keel, to which the forward ends of the planks or strakes are attached. 

  • A vertical stroke marking the length of a note in written music. 

  • A narrow part on certain man-made objects, such as a wine glass, a tobacco pipe, a spoon. 

  • A part of an anatomic structure considered without its possible branches or ramifications. 

  • A winder on a clock, watch, or similar mechanism. 

  • The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors. 

  • The above-ground stalk (technically axis) of a vascular plant, and certain anatomically similar, below-ground organs such as rhizomes, bulbs, tubers, and corms. 

  • A vertical stroke of a letter. 

  • A crack pipe; or the long, hollow portion of a similar pipe (i.e. meth pipe) resembling a crack pipe. 

  • The main part of an uninflected word to which affixes may be added to form inflections of the word. A stem often has a more fundamental root. Systematic conjugations and declensions derive from their stems. 

  • An advanced or leading position; the lookout. 

How often have the words make up and stem occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )