The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word STEM
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
S
T
E
M
More clues leading to the result STEM
- Spring arrest
- Finally gets sweet juice from part of plant
- Water vapour avoiding a plant's stalk
- Second eleven possibly without a means of support
- Check forepart of ship
- Restrict flow in stretch of pipe
- Staunch, upstanding police force succeeded
- Police force has turned up to make arrest
- Support second article having expunged first
- Check stalk of plant
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Keep back/support" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case keep back/support = stem.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does STEM mean?
STEM noun- The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors.
- A branch of a family.
- An advanced or leading position; the lookout.
- 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 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 narrow part on certain man-made objects, such as a wine glass, a tobacco pipe, a spoon.
- 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.
- A person's leg.
- The penis.
- A vertical stroke of a letter.
- A vertical stroke marking the length of a note in written music.
- A premixed portion of a track for use in audio mastering and remixing.
- The vertical or nearly vertical forward extension of the keel, to which the forward ends of the planks or strakes are attached.
- A component on a bicycle that connects the handlebars to the bicycle fork
- A part of an anatomic structure considered without its possible branches or ramifications.
- A crack pipe; or the long, hollow portion of a similar pipe (i.e. meth pipe) resembling a crack pipe.
- (chiefly British) A winder on a clock, watch, or similar mechanism
- To remove the stem from.
- To be caused or derived; to originate.
- To descend in a family line.
- To direct the stem (of a ship) against; to make headway against.
- To hit with the stem of a ship; to ram.
- To ram (clay, etc.) into a blasting hole.
- To stop, hinder (for instance, a river or blood).
- 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.
- A gleam of light; a flame.
- Acronym of science, technology, engineering, (and) mathematics.
- An electron microscope that transmits a very narrow beam of electrons through a sample; it can detect individual large or heavy atoms.