Steem

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A faint gleam or glimmer of light, especially one seen dimly through darkness or mist
2. A weak, flickering ray of light that appears briefly in a dim or shadowy place
3. Dialect term for a slight glow or glimmer of light, the kind seen faintly in the dark

Etymology: "Steem" is a shortened form of "esteem," with the opening syllable dropped. The process is called aphesis, a clipping that removes a sound from the start of a word, and it is the same pattern that turned "estate" into "state" and "espy" into "spy." Because the form keeps the sense of "esteem" (to value or regard highly, or the regard itself), it survives mainly in older and poetic usage, and in set phrases where writers wanted a shorter, rhythmic alternative to the full word.