stem-winder
A watch that is wound up by turning a small knob on a stem which holds a gear winding…A watch that is wound up by turning a small knob on a stem which holds a gear winding the mainspring.
Meaning
5 sensesA watch that is wound up by turning a small knob on a stem which holds a gear winding the mainspring.
a watch that is wound by turning a knob at the stem
(US)A rousing speech, especially by a politician.
(US)Someone who gives such speeches; a great orator.
(US, proscribed)A boring, interminable speech.
(US, obsolete)Something top-notch or first-rate.
Origin
US, mid-late 19th century, originally referring to then-recent stem-wind watches (inventedUS, 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”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: stem-winders| Singular | stem-winder |
|---|---|
| Plural | stem-winders |
regular
Word family
2 related wordsSee also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.