A Dictionary of Cont..

steer 476
nights later in a production of Macbeth. Since
the origin of so many phrases is quickly lost and
since it is rare to have an accurate account of
the origin of a phrase, it is worth quoting a
paragraph from the Biogruphia Britannica:
Our author, for the advantage of this play
[Appius and Virginia], had invented a new
species of thunder, . . . the very sort that at
present is used in the theatre. The tragedy
itself was coldly received, notwithstanding
such assistance, and was acted but a short
time. Some nights after, Mr. Dennis, being
in the pit at the representation of Macbeth,
heard his own thunder made use of; upon
which he rose in a violent passion and exclaimed,
See how the rascals use me! They
will not let my play run, and yet they steal
my thunder.
steer clear of. Used figuratively, the nautical expression
to steer clear of is hackneyed.
stem. Where Americans say that something stems
from this or that (His talkativeness stems from
an embarrassed self-consciousness), the English
say springs from or originates in.
stem-winder. Americans used to call a watch which
is wound by turning a knob at the stem a stemwinder.
The English call it a keyless watch. The
tendency of the English to define negatively, to
identify new things by saying what they are not,
a reflection probably of their conservatism, of
their facing of their great and successful past, is
gradually changing. Wireless is the traditional
form, but the American radio is making headway;
though as H. Allen Smith, that keen observer
of language and folkways, has remarked
(Smith’s London Journal, 1952, p. 77), a radio
tube is still known in England as a wireless
valve.
The use of stem-winder as a slang term of
approbation, applied to one who has energy,
ability, and initiative, is something of an affectation.
It implies that the speaker is so venerable
or comes from some place so quaintly oldfashioned
that a stem-winding watch constitutes
an admirable novelty. It may once have been a
genuine expression but, like cooking with gas,
it now sounds artificial and forced, an affectation
of rustic simplicity.
step iu the right direction. To say of some act
that conduces to the achievement of a desired
end, especially an initial act and above all of
one that marks a change of course, that it is a
step in the right direction is to employ a cliche.
step up; increase. Step up, an American engineering
term applied to the process of gradually
increasing the electric power applied by a switch
with graduated steps, is now used in America
and England to mean to raise or increase something
that can in some figurative way be considered
as being a form of power. Thus one
would not say that he stepped up the amount of
sugar in his coffee if he added some, but he
might well say that he stepped up the dosage of
a drug or medicine, especially if the increase
was regarded as permanent.
Some authors insist that unless step up is
clearly understood to mean to make greater by
stages, it is merely a substitute for increase and
hence a superfluous addition to the language.
But even as a mere synonym for increasewhich
it is not exactly, because it has connotations
that increase lacks-it is a dynamic, wn-
Crete locution.
stereotyped. See commonplace.
sterling worth, as a term of approbation for one
of admirable qualities, is a cliche.
stern reality, as a term for the facts of a situation,
especially when unfavorable, is worn out. So
also is hard facts or the grim facts.
stew in one’s own juice, as a term for allowing
someone to suffer the consequences of his own
actions, especially with a slightly spiteful or
vindictive satisfaction. is a cliche.
stick. The past tense is stack. The participle is
also stuck.
stick in one’s craw. To say of something that one
is loath to accept but must that it sticks in one’s
craw (or gizzard) is to employ a phrase worn
out by overuse.
stick to one’s guns, as a term for tenacity, for a
refusal to give up, and especially for a refusal
to cede a point in an argument, is stale and
worn.
sticker; stickler. A sticker is a person who (or
sometimes a thing or animal that) is persistent.
A stickler is a person who insists on something
unyieldingly. The word is followed by for if
mention is made of that upon which the insistence
is laid (He is u stickler for propriety).
Sticker is generally a term of approval, while
stickler is generally a term of disapproval, especially
if the one using the term is not himself
inclined to admire niceties or regards that on
which the stickler insists as unworthy of insistence.
stigma; stigmata. Stigma derives from a Greek
word meaning mark. In common usage it is
used figuratively to mean a mark of disgrace or
infamy, a stain or reproach, as on one’s reputation
(There should be no stigma attached to his
failure to get through college; the financial difficulties
were simply too great). In its literal
sense, stigma means a characteristic mark or
sign of defect, degeneration, or disease. It may
mean a birthmark or a naevus. In pathology a
stigma is a spot or mark on the skin, especially
a place or point on the skin which bleeds, or is
alleged to bleed, during certain mental states, as
in hysteria. In zoology it means a small mark,
spot, pore, or the like, on an animal or organ.
In botany it means that part of a pistil which
receives the pollen. In the Roman Catholic
Church stigmata (the plural of stigma in all
except the figurative sense of disgrace, when the
plural is stigmas) means marks said to have
been supernaturally impressed upon certain persons
in the semblance of the wounds on the
crucified body of Christ.
The distinction between stigmas and stigmata
is less than fifty years old. The verb stigmatize
still carries both meanings.
still; stilly. The form still may be used as an adjective
meaning quiet, as in over the still stream,