stretcher

plural stretchers

1. Someone or something that stretches.
2. A simple litter designed to carry a sick, injured, or dead person.

   This done, he sank on to a stretcher, and glanced meditatively about the room.

   1936, F.J. Thwaites, chapter XIV, in The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards, published 1940, page 153

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   After all this has been done, the funeral-procession begins. The stretcher is borne to the burialplace by male persons, even when the deceased is a woman; this work is to be done carefully.

   1953, H.A.R. Gibb, J.H. Kramers, “Djināza”, in Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, E.J. Brill, published 1995, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 90, column 1

   The goal also cost the Blues the services of Luiz, who was injured in attempting to clear and was taken off on a stretcher and replaced by Gary Cahill.

   2012 April 15, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham 1-5 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 02 Jan 2021

   There, characteristically, he refused to be carried on a stretcher, saying he was too heavy for nurses. He walked in with their support.

   2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43

   Synonyms: litter, litter, ambulance, dooly

3. A frame on which a canvas is stretched for painting.

   A twelve-by-fourteen canvas would not pin in his box, so he had to make a stretcher for it, and very neatly he made it, out of strips of butter-box.

   1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 48

4. A device to stretch shoes or gloves.
5. A brick laid with the longest (but least tall) side exposed.

   The quoins should be two feet long and one foot broad on the bed, and regularly built, stretcher and header alternately

   1857, John Ewart, The Agriculturist's Assistant

6. architectureA piece of timber used in building.
7. slangA lie; an overstretching of the truth.
8. nauticalA board against which a rower places his feet.

   […] these seem to indicate a thwart, foot-timber (stretcher), thole-pin combination for rowing.

   2014, Sean Mcgrail, Ancient Boats in North-West Europe, page 80

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   The jointed stretcher is used in place of the sectional bottom board, with two sideboards, one each side of stretcher. The boat set up this way only weights 20 pounds, and makes a very convenient boat for trout-fishing, duck-hunting, or exploring in ponds or streams where the paddle will do as well as the oars.

   1884, J. W. Collins, Bulletin of the United States National Museum: Great International Fisheries Exhibition, page 703

   Directly the oar has been disengaged from the water, all pressure on the stretcher ceases, and the strain of the recovery of the body is eased by a slight pull with the feet on the straps of the stretcher.

   1900, Alfred Edward Thomas Watson, The Young Sportsman, page 479

   Betwean each beam of the boat is also fastened a piece of timber called a stretcher or footspur, against which they place their feet when rowing, to enable them to have a more complete command of their oar.

   1909, Samuel McSkimin, The History and Antiquities of the County of the Town of Carrickfergus, from the Earliest Records Till 1839, page 362

   Each rower's feet are set in shoes which are secured in the boat in a stretcher (or foot board) set into a fixed position to suit the length of the rower's legs.

   2003, J. Alswang, The South African Dictionary of Sport, page 203

9. 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.
10. furnitureA horizontal bar joining the legs of a chair or a table to provide support and stability.
11. obsoleteA penis, especially a long penis.

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    When our mutual trance was a little over, and the young fellow had withdrawn that delicious stretcher, with which he had most plentifully drowned all thoughts of revenge in the sense of actual pleasure, the widen'd wounded passage refunded a stream of pearly liquids, which flowed down my thighs, mixed with streaks of blood

    Fanny Hill

    1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC

present singular third person stretchers · participle present stretchering · participle past stretchered · past stretchered

1. transitiveTo carry (an injured person) on a stretcher.

   Claire Elise Tisdall, a volunteer nurse working in London, watched as a soldier was strechered past her one night.

   2022, Lindsey Fitzharris, The Facemaker, page 37

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   But with Germany’s Olaf Scholz and France’s Emmanuel Macron facing red cards at home, Spain’s Pedro Sánchez briefly stretchered off[…], Giorgia Meloni – post-fascist poster girl turned star centre-forward of the new right – is shooting at an open goal.

   2024 May 4, Simon Tisdall, “Giorgia Meloni and Ursula von der Leyen, the double act that is steering the EU ever rightwards”, in The Observer, →ISSN