English

Prepositional phrase

from stem to stern

1. (nautical) Over the full length of a ship or boat, from the front end of the vessel to the back end.
   • c. 1608, William Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, act 4, sc. 1:

     Marina: My father, as nurse said, did never fear,

     But cried ‘Good seaman!’ to the sailors . . .

     Never was waves nor wind more violent;

     And from the ladder-tackle washes off

     A canvas-climber. ‘Ha!’ says one, ‘wilt out?’

     And with a dropping industry they skip

     From stem to stern.

   • 1836, Washington Irving, Astoria, ch. 18:

     [T]he boats resounded with exclamations from stem to stern, "voila les Sioux! voila les Sioux!"

   • 1961 Dec. 1, "Armed Forces: The Mightiest Ever," Time:

     From stem to stern, the [U.S.S.] Enterprise measures 1,040 ft.—roughly the height of the 102-story Empire State Building.

   • 2006 Dec. 28, Robert Drury and Tom Clavin, "How Lieutenant Ford Saved His Ship," New York Times (retrieved 23 Aug. 2012):

     [T]he Monterey was ablaze from stem to stern as Lieutenant Ford stood near the helm, awaiting his orders.

2. (idiomatic, by extension) From front to back; from one end to the other end; entirely, fully.
   • 1861, Charles Reade, The Cloister and the Hearth, ch. 58:

     [T]he horse was the vainer brute of the two; he was far worse beflounced, bebonneted, and bemantled, than any fair lady. . . . [T]his poor animal from stem to stern was swamped in finery.

   • 1945 Aug. 27, "Science: War on Insects," Time:

     Michigan's Mackinac Island, the Lake Huron resort where automobiles are barred, was sprayed from stem to stern with DDT.

   • 2005 Oct. 12, Marian Burros, "Take My Steak. Please." (restaurant review), New York Times (retrieved 23 Aug. 2012):

     Weighing in at four pounds, the lobster was rubbery and tasteless from stem to stern.

References

• from stem to stern at OneLook Dictionary Search