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stretcher

[strech-er]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

Medicine/Medical.��
1. a kind of litter, often of canvas stretched on a frame, for carrying the sick, wounded, or dead.
2. a similar litter on wheels, adapted for use in ambulances and hospitals.
a person or thing that stretches.
any of various instruments for extending, widening, distending, etc.
a bar, beam, or fabricated material, serving as a tie or brace.
Masonry.��a brick or stone laid in a wall so that its longer edge is exposed or parallel to the surface.
a simple wooden framework on which the canvas for an oil painting is stretched.
Furniture.��
1. a framework connecting and bracing the legs of a piece of furniture.
2. one member of this framework.
a crosspiece that is set athwart and near the bottom in a small boat, and against which the feet of a rower are braced.
one of the thin, sliding rods connecting the canopy and handle of an umbrella.

verb (used with object)

to stretch (canvas for a painting) on a stretcher.

stretcher

/ ˈ��ٰ�ɛ��ʃə /

noun

a device for transporting the ill, wounded, or dead, consisting of a frame covered by canvas or other material
a strengthening often decorative member joining the legs of a chair, table, etc
the wooden frame on which canvas is stretched and fixed for oil painting
a tie beam or brace used in a structural framework
a brick or stone laid horizontally with its length parallel to the length of a wall Compare header
rowing a fixed board across a boat on which an oarsman braces his feet
a camp bed
slang��an exaggeration or lie

verb

to transport (a sick or injured person) on a stretcher

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Word History and Origins

Origin of stretcher¹

First recorded in 1375–1425, stretcher is from the late Middle English word stretcher. See stretch, -er ¹

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Photos show people being carried off on stretchers, and placed into ambulances.

From

The Philippous have an eye for wonderful, miserable detail, like a coroner’s stretcher that gets stuck on a doorway as it goes rattling out of the house.

From

One photograph used by German media shows a man being taken away by paramedics on a stretcher.

From

Doctors were forced to treat wounded people, including those with burns, amputations and internal bleeding, on stretchers, benches and on the floor due to a lack of beds, he said.

From

Medics from the nearby surgery ran to Harry's aid, firefighters used a ladder as a makeshift stretcher to take him to a nearby shop from where the Great North Air Ambulance took him to hospital.

From

stretch a point stretcher-bearer

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