Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A litter, usually of canvas stretched over a frame, used to transport the sick, wounded, or dead.
  • noun One that stretches, such as the wooden framework on which canvas is stretched for an oil painting.
  • noun A usually horizontal tie beam or brace serving to support or extend a framework.
  • noun A brick or stone laid parallel to the face of a wall so that only its long side is showing.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who or that which stretches or, expands.
  • noun In masonry, a brick or stone laid horizontally with its length in the direction of the face of the wall, as distinguished from a header, which is laid lengthwise across the thickness of the wall, so that its small head or end is seen in the external face of the wall. See cut under inbond.
  • noun One of the cylindrical rails between the legs of a chair; a round.
  • noun In cabinet-making, a low shelf serving as a brace or stay to the legs of a table, and roomy enough to hold a vase, a basket of flowers, or other ornament.
  • noun In carpentry, a tie-timber in a frame.
  • noun Nautical, a narrow piece of plank placed across a boat for the rowers to set their feet against; also, a cross-piece placed between a boat's sides to keep them apart when the boat is hoisted up and griped.
  • noun A light, simple litter, without inclosure or top, upon which a dead body or a wounded person can be carried: so called because generally composed of canvas stretched on a frame, or because the body is stretched out upon it. Such frames, covered with canvas, are often used as beds, as in camping.
  • noun A flat board on which corpses are stretched or laid out preparatory to coffining.
  • noun In angling: The leader at the extreme end of the line.
  • noun The tail-fly; the fly that is fastened to the cast called the stretcher; a stretcher-fly. See tail-fly (under fly) and whip.
  • noun A statement which overstretches the truth; a lie.
  • noun In carriage-building, same as strainer, 4.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who, or that which, stretches.
  • noun (Masonry) A brick or stone laid with its longer dimension in the line of direction of the wall.
  • noun (Arch.) A piece of timber used in building.
  • noun A narrow crosspiece of the bottom of a boat against which a rower braces his feet.
  • noun A crosspiece placed between the sides of a boat to keep them apart when hoisted up and griped.
  • noun A litter, or frame, for carrying disabled, wounded, or dead persons.
  • noun Slang An overstretching of the truth; a lie.
  • noun One of the rods in an umbrella, attached at one end to one of the ribs, and at the other to the tube sliding upon the handle.
  • noun An instrument for stretching boots or gloves.
  • noun The frame upon which canvas is stretched for a painting.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun One who, or that which, stretches.
  • noun A simple litter designed to carry a sick, injured, or dead person.
  • noun A frame on which a canvas is stretched for painting.
  • noun A device to stretch shoes or gloves.
  • noun A brick laid with the longest side exposed (compare header).
  • noun architecture A piece of timber used in building.
  • noun slang A lie; an overstretching of the truth.
  • noun nautical A board against which a rower places his feet.
  • noun nautical A crosspiece placed between the sides of a boat to keep them apart when hoisted up and gripped.
  • noun One of the rods in an umbrella, attached at one end to one of the ribs, and at the other to the tube sliding upon the handle.
  • noun An instrument for stretching boots or gloves.
  • noun obsolete A penis, especially a long penis.
  • verb transitive To carry (an injured person) on a stretcher.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a wooden framework on which canvas is stretched and fixed for oil painting
  • noun a mechanical device used to make something larger (as shoes or gloves) by stretching it
  • noun a litter for transporting people who are ill or wounded or dead; usually consists of a sheet of canvas stretched between two poles
  • noun a stone that forms the top of wall or building

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

stretch +‎ -er

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Examples

  • Then they covered the burning, smoking gauze with absorbent cotton, then with clean, neat bandages, after which they called the stretcher bearers, and Rochard was carried from the operating table back to the ward.

    The Backwash of War The Human Wreckage of the Battlefield as Witnessed by an American Hospital Nurse Ellen Newbold La Motte 1917

  • Going to the address of the reg. owner of a car in which the young female passenger who looked like rag doll on the ambulance stretcher is almost certainly dead and the driver nearly so.

    The Love Shack, Baby. « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2010

  • (The warp and weft are at forty-five degrees to the stripes, because the stretcher is rotated.)

    James Elkins: How to Look at Mondrian James Elkins 2010

  • But as his stretcher is wheeled past the crime scene, he knows this is no random act of violence.

    The Pain Nurse by Jon Talton: Book summary 2010

  • (The warp and weft are at forty-five degrees to the stripes, because the stretcher is rotated.)

    James Elkins: How to Look at Mondrian James Elkins 2010

  • We would probably translate that as the stretcher is not yet here; I struggled looking for a way para ir a escuchar su corazón to go to hear her heart con las manos confundidas no me mantengo en pie with my hands confused (not working, not able to help me)

    Amor y romanticismo 7 2008

  • The lights went out for her, her body quivered the stretcher is not yet here; I struggled looking for a way to go to hear her heart with my hands not able to help me

    Amor y romanticismo 7 2008

  • The lights went out for her, her body quivered the stretcher is not yet here; I struggled looking for a way to go to hear her heart with my hands not able to help me

    Amor y romanticismo 7 2008

  • The lights went out for her, her body quivered the stretcher is not yet here; I struggled looking for a way to go to hear her heart with my hands not able to help me

    Amor y romanticismo 7 2008

  • We would probably translate that as the stretcher is not yet here; I struggled looking for a way para ir a escuchar su corazón to go to hear her heart con las manos confundidas no me mantengo en pie with my hands confused (not working, not able to help me)

    Amor y romanticismo 7 2008

Comments

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  • "'Nothing shall keep me away,' said Jack, 'short of the loss of both legs. And even then there is always a stretcher.'"

    --Patrick O'Brian, Treason's Harbour, 65

    February 15, 2008

  • How familiar does WeirdNet #1 sound to other people? Stretcher makes me think of medical assistance...

    May 24, 2009

  • It's in there. Something is weird with the way they are ordering the definitions from the raw WordNet data.

    May 26, 2009

  • The Texas native stood 6-foot-6 and weighed 250 pounds, and claimed to have killed a Mexican officer during the Texas Revolution with a bowie knife to the heart. The claim is dubious - Terry was 13 years old when Texas fought its war for independence - but his later career was filled with more than enough bloodshed to make up for that stretcher.

    – San Francisco Chronicle 6/15/13

    June 15, 2013