"stem-winder" meaning in All languages combined

See stem-winder on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Forms: stem-winders [plural]
Etymology: US, mid-late 19th century, originally referring to then-recent stem-wind watches (invented in 1840s, commercialized initially 1850s by Patek Philippe & Co.). These were expensive, top-notch watches, hence generalized (1892) to “top-notch”, particularly applied to speeches, or to the orator in question. Non-speech senses later fell out of use. Nuance of “rousing” speech possibly by analogy with watch being wound up (“tighten by winding, excite, rouse”). Circa 2000, later sense of “interminable speech” a folk etymology, in sense “a speech that lasts so long one must wind one’s watch”. Head templates: {{en-noun}} stem-winder (plural stem-winders)
  1. A watch that is wound up by turning a small knob on a stem which holds a gear winding the mainspring.
    Sense id: en-stem-winder-en-noun-zoBY-yV~ Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 44 10 9 10 28 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 52 6 6 6 29 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 57 6 6 5 27
  2. (US) A rousing speech, especially by a politician. Tags: US
    Sense id: en-stem-winder-en-noun-Rg09frhu Categories (other): American English
  3. (US) Someone who gives such speeches; a great orator. Tags: US
    Sense id: en-stem-winder-en-noun-cQZYeQHZ Categories (other): American English
  4. (US, proscribed) A boring, interminable speech. Tags: US, proscribed
    Sense id: en-stem-winder-en-noun-5rV2vdZZ Categories (other): American English
  5. (US, obsolete) Something top-notch or first-rate. Tags: US, obsolete
    Sense id: en-stem-winder-en-noun-lu73GT85 Categories (other): American English
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: rabblerousing, tubthumping

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_text": "US, mid-late 19th century, originally referring to then-recent stem-wind watches (invented in 1840s, commercialized initially 1850s by Patek Philippe & Co.). These were expensive, top-notch watches, hence generalized (1892) to “top-notch”, particularly applied to speeches, or to the orator in question. Non-speech senses later fell out of use. Nuance of “rousing” speech possibly by analogy with watch being wound up (“tighten by winding, excite, rouse”).\nCirca 2000, later sense of “interminable speech” a folk etymology, in sense “a speech that lasts so long one must wind one’s watch”.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "stem-winders",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "stem-winder (plural stem-winders)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "rabblerousing"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "tubthumping"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "44 10 9 10 28",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "52 6 6 6 29",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "57 6 6 5 27",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A watch that is wound up by turning a small knob on a stem which holds a gear winding the mainspring."
      ],
      "id": "en-stem-winder-en-noun-zoBY-yV~",
      "links": [
        [
          "watch",
          "watch"
        ],
        [
          "wound up",
          "wound up"
        ],
        [
          "knob",
          "knob"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A rousing speech, especially by a politician."
      ],
      "id": "en-stem-winder-en-noun-Rg09frhu",
      "links": [
        [
          "rousing",
          "rousing"
        ],
        [
          "speech",
          "speech"
        ],
        [
          "politician",
          "politician"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US) A rousing speech, especially by a politician."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Someone who gives such speeches; a great orator."
      ],
      "id": "en-stem-winder-en-noun-cQZYeQHZ",
      "links": [
        [
          "orator",
          "orator"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US) Someone who gives such speeches; a great orator."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2000, Bill Schneider and Keating Holland, “What to look for Thursday at the Democratic National Convention”, August 17, 2000, CNN, “Clinton comparisons”",
          "text": "Or – heaven forbid – the Bill Clinton of 1988, who gave a tedious stemwinder in 1988 that has gone down in the books as the worst nominating speech in recent memory?"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A boring, interminable speech."
      ],
      "id": "en-stem-winder-en-noun-5rV2vdZZ",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, proscribed) A boring, interminable speech."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "proscribed"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something top-notch or first-rate."
      ],
      "id": "en-stem-winder-en-noun-lu73GT85",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, obsolete) Something top-notch or first-rate."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Patek Philippe & Co."
  ],
  "word": "stem-winder"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "US, mid-late 19th century, originally referring to then-recent stem-wind watches (invented in 1840s, commercialized initially 1850s by Patek Philippe & Co.). These were expensive, top-notch watches, hence generalized (1892) to “top-notch”, particularly applied to speeches, or to the orator in question. Non-speech senses later fell out of use. Nuance of “rousing” speech possibly by analogy with watch being wound up (“tighten by winding, excite, rouse”).\nCirca 2000, later sense of “interminable speech” a folk etymology, in sense “a speech that lasts so long one must wind one’s watch”.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "stem-winders",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "stem-winder (plural stem-winders)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "rabblerousing"
    },
    {
      "word": "tubthumping"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A watch that is wound up by turning a small knob on a stem which holds a gear winding the mainspring."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "watch",
          "watch"
        ],
        [
          "wound up",
          "wound up"
        ],
        [
          "knob",
          "knob"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A rousing speech, especially by a politician."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
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          "rousing"
        ],
        [
          "speech",
          "speech"
        ],
        [
          "politician",
          "politician"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US) A rousing speech, especially by a politician."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Someone who gives such speeches; a great orator."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "orator",
          "orator"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US) Someone who gives such speeches; a great orator."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English proscribed terms"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2000, Bill Schneider and Keating Holland, “What to look for Thursday at the Democratic National Convention”, August 17, 2000, CNN, “Clinton comparisons”",
          "text": "Or – heaven forbid – the Bill Clinton of 1988, who gave a tedious stemwinder in 1988 that has gone down in the books as the worst nominating speech in recent memory?"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A boring, interminable speech."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, proscribed) A boring, interminable speech."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "proscribed"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English terms with obsolete senses"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something top-notch or first-rate."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, obsolete) Something top-notch or first-rate."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Patek Philippe & Co."
  ],
  "word": "stem-winder"
}

Download raw JSONL data for stem-winder meaning in All languages combined (2.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-18 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (e4a2c88 and 4230888). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.