main stem
[main a. 8 b.]
The principal stem; also transf. and fig. in various (chiefly U.S. slang) senses, as a main street, main line of a railway, pre-eminent person, etc.
| 1832 Amer. Railroad Jrnl. I. 804/2 The western fork..connects it with the main stem. 1900 Ade Fables in Slang iv. 24 To grow up and be the Main Stem, like Mr. Jeffries. 1900 ‘Flynt’ & Walton Powers that Prey x. 250 Investigations that have been begun in ‘the main stem’. 1907 J. London Road (1914) vii. 218 The kids began ‘battering’ the ‘main-stem’. 1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 42 Each single twig, Each one setting off straight to the sky As if it were the leader, the main-stem, the fore⁓runner. 1928 [see fold v.1 5]. 1931 [see drag n. 3 e]. 1941 J. Smiley Hash House Lingo 36 Main stem, principal street of a city. 1945 E. T. Wallace Barington 62 The hog bounced us around and finally got back on the main stem. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Nov. p. xxii/1 London audiences were listening to a play called Broadway..typical of drama at that time in and around the Main Stem. |