Wiktionary
vb. (context idiomatic English) To slow or stop the increase.
Usage examples of "stem the tide".
In the meantime Carthoris and Xodar with tools in hand were puttering with the great rent in the bow in a hopeless endeavour to stem the tide of escaping rays.
None of them so much as glanced behind and the few officers that tried to stem the tide and get them turned around were bowled over.
Mayhap the Sword-that-was-Broken may still stem the tide - if the hand that wields it has inherited not an heirloom only, but the sinews of the Kings of Men.
Still, they had hung on tenaciously, even after the reversal in 1947, hoping against hope that their combined influence could help stem the tide and return the new Japan to the beginnings of democratization.
I remained on deck till the tide turned, and then, instead of taking advantage of it so as to gain to the southward, I put the schooner's head the other way, so as to keep as near as I could to the spot where I heard the voice, reducing her sail so as just to stem the tide.
Fully twenty vessels had emerged, and though they gave battle immediately in an effort to stem the tide that rolled from the black pit, the odds against them were too great and they were forced to flee.
And even if, by some miracle, this were to happen, would even these stem the tide of half a million tribesmen?
Borenson thought that the Wolf Lord seemed too eager to stem the tide of insults.
It had been endless weeks since they had touched each other, and neither of them could stem the tide.
The one who will somehow find a way to stem the tide of dark reaping.
It's a growing problem, High Initiate, and I don't mind admitting that our resources are sorely stretched in trying to stem the tide.
He pressed his fingers around the arrow's shaft, trying to stem the tide of blood, but each time Del breathed the wound bloomed anew, swimming around Jahl's fingers and soaking his lap as he cradled Del's head.
I've always been in love with open water, but for once I wish I could be a landliver, doing something direct and practical to stem the tide!
Their muffled whumps were all but lost in the cacophony of cavalry charging around through the gap, and the thunder of dragonels attempting to stem the tide of men, horses, and metal.