stem-winder
noun
stem-wind·er
ˈstem-ˌwīn-dər 
1
: a stem-winding watch
2
[from the superiority of the stem-winding watch over the older key-wound watch]
: one that is first-rate of its kind
especially
: a stirring speech
Examples of stem-winder in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Last year, in early March, Donald Trump went to absolutely Castro-like lengths in his address to Congress, which broke the modern record for such a speech, at ninety-nine minutes—beating Bill Clinton’s stem-winder State of the Union in 2000.
—
Susan B. Glasser, New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2026
Jackson's speech turned out to be a stem-winder; the public went wild.
—Gail Sheehy, Vanity Fair, 20 Feb. 2026
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Susan B. Glasser, New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2026
Jackson's speech turned out to be a stem-winder; the public went wild.
—Gail Sheehy, Vanity Fair, 20 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Stem-winder.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stem-winder. Accessed 4 Mar. 2026.
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