From Stem To Stern Meaning

(idiomatic, by extension) From front to back; from one end to the other end; entirely, fully.

Example: c. 1608, William Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, act 4, sc. 1:
  Marina: My father, as nurse said, did never fear,
  But cried ‘Good seaman!’ to the sailors . . .
  Never was waves nor wind more violent;
  And from the ladder-tackle washes off
  A canvas-climber. ‘Ha!’ says one, ‘wilt out?’
  And with a dropping industry they skip
  From stem to stern.
1836, Washington Irving, Astoria, ch. 18:
  [T]he boats resounded with exclamations from stem to stern, "voila les Sioux! voila les Sioux!"
1961 Dec. 1, "Armed Forces: The Mightiest Ever," Time:
  From stem to stern, the [U.S.S.] Enterprise measures 1,040 ft.—roughly the height of the 102-story Empire State Building.
2006 Dec. 28, Robert Drury and Tom Clavin, "How Lieutenant Ford Saved His Ship," New York Times (retrieved 23 Aug. 2012):
  [T]he Monterey was ablaze from stem to stern as Lieutenant Ford stood near the helm, awaiting his orders.
1861, Charles Reade, The Cloister and the Hearth, ch. 58:
  [T]he horse was the vainer brute of the two; he was far worse beflounced, bebonneted, and bemantled, than any fair lady. . . . [T]his poor animal from stem to stern was swamped in finery.
1945 Aug. 27, "Science: War on Insects," Time:
  Michigan's Mackinac Island, the Lake Huron resort where automobiles are barred, was sprayed from stem to stern with DDT.
2005 Oct. 12, Marian Burros, "Take My Steak. Please." (restaurant review), New York Times (retrieved 23 Aug. 2012):
  Weighing in at four pounds, the lobster was rubbery and tasteless from stem to stern.