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The Collaborative International Dictionary
From stem to stern

Stem \Stem\ (st[e^]m), n. [AS. stemn, stefn, st[ae]fn; akin to OS. stamn the stem of a ship, D. stam stem, steven stem of a ship, G. stamm stem, steven stem of a ship, Icel. stafn, stamn, stem of a ship, stofn, stomn, stem, Sw. stam a tree trunk, Dan. stamme. Cf. Staff, Stand.]

  1. The principal body of a tree, shrub, or plant, of any kind; the main stock; the part which supports the branches or the head or top.

    After they are shot up thirty feet in length, they spread a very large top, having no bough nor twig in the trunk or the stem.
    --Sir W. Raleigh.

    The lowering spring, with lavish rain, Beats down the slender stem and breaded grain.
    --Dryden.

  2. A little branch which connects a fruit, flower, or leaf with a main branch; a peduncle, pedicel, or petiole; as, the stem of an apple or a cherry.

  3. The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors. ``All that are of noble stem.''
    --Milton.

    While I do pray, learn here thy stem And true descent.
    --Herbert.

  4. A branch of a family.

    This is a stem Of that victorious stock.
    --Shak.

  5. (Naut.) A curved piece of timber to which the two sides of a ship are united at the fore end. The lower end of it is scarfed to the keel, and the bowsprit rests upon its upper end. Hence, the forward part of a vessel; the bow.

  6. Fig.: An advanced or leading position; the lookout.

    Wolsey sat at the stem more than twenty years.
    --Fuller.

  7. Anything resembling a stem or stalk; as, the stem of a tobacco pipe; the stem of a watch case, or that part to which the ring, by which it is suspended, is attached.

  8. (Bot.) That part of a plant which bears leaves, or rudiments of leaves, whether rising above ground or wholly subterranean.

  9. (Zo["o]l.)

    1. The entire central axis of a feather.

    2. The basal portion of the body of one of the Pennatulacea, or of a gorgonian.

  10. (Mus.) The short perpendicular line added to the body of a note; the tail of a crotchet, quaver, semiquaver, etc.

  11. (Gram.) The part of an inflected word which remains unchanged (except by euphonic variations) throughout a given inflection; theme; base.

    From stem to stern (Naut.), from one end of the ship to the other, or through the whole length.

    Stem leaf (Bot.), a leaf growing from the stem of a plant, as contrasted with a basal or radical leaf.

Wiktionary
from stem to stern

prep.phr. 1 (context nautical English) Over the full length of a ship or boat, from the front end of the vessel to the back end. 2 (context idiomatic by extension English) From front to back; from one end to the other end; entirely, fully.

Usage examples of "from stem to stern".

Buick from stem to stern, the young people dusting and brushing and snapping pictures, Bibi with a clipboard, walking around and sometimes pointing wordlessly at something with his ballpoint pen.