[f. STEM v.4 + -ING1.] The action of the vb. STEM4.
1703. trans. Lahontan’s Voy. N. Amer., I. 30. I found that the stemming of the Currents whether in towing of the Canows, or in setting them along with Poles, was equally laborious.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 403. A current from the Atlantic…, and for the stemming of it a brisk gale is required.
1914. Eng. Hist. Rev., Jan., 137. The process of feudalization … broke out again with great force under the Carolingians, after a brief stemming-back by the efforts of such princes as Charles Martel [etc.].
