Meaning of from stem to stern | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Over the full length of a ship or boat, from the front end of the vessel to the back end.
2. From front to back; from one end to the other end.
   broadly, idiomatic

Examples

“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.”

“The very name of a Sioux became a watchword of terror. Not an elk, a wolf, or any other animal, could appear on the hills, but the boats resounded with exclamations from stem to stern, "voila les Sioux!" "voila les Sioux!" (there are the Sioux! there are the Sioux!)”

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

“The captain ordered an immediate and thorough search of the entire ship from stem to stern—no nook or cranny was to be overlooked.”

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

“[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.”

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

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

CEFR level