stretcher

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English strecher, formed from Middle English strechen (“to stretch”) + -er.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Stretch is from Old English streccan, cognate with Dutch strekken and German strecken.^[6] Etymonline thinks the litter is so called because its frame keeps the canvas stretched.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who stretches, especially a worker who stretches fabrics: about 1420, in Lydgate's Assembly of Gods.^[3] Etymonline dates the word to the early 15th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Beside the agent noun, the word soon named things that stretch or hold something apart.^[3][4] In falconry it was a hawk's toe from 1486 to 1674,^[3][7] and since 1532 it has named an appliance for making material taut.^[3] The rower's footrest is recorded from 1609,^[7] and Johnson (1755) listed it with "any thing used for extension".^[8] A brick or stone laid lengthways in a wall is a stretcher from 1693,^[7][5] and in the 18th and 19th centuries various bars and braces were named so: a tie-beam (1774), the bar keeping apart the traces of a team of horses (1828), the crosspiece between the legs of a chair (1844).^[3] In Yorkshire and Northumberland dialect it was the bar keeping the plough chains apart.^[9] The sense now most familiar, a litter for carrying the sick or wounded, dates from 1845,^[7][4] the artist's canvas frame from 1847,^[3] and the verb "to carry on a stretcher" from 1870.^[3] In Australia a stretcher is also a folding camp bed.^[5] Since 1674 a stretcher has also been an exaggerated story, a lie that stretches the truth.^[3][10][4]

Timeline

• c. 1420 – a person who stretches, especially fabrics.^[3]
• 1486 – a hawk's toe (obsolete by 1674).^[3][7]
• 1532 – an appliance for making material taut.^[3]
• 1609 – a footrest for a rower.^[7]
• 1674 – an exaggerated story, a lie.^[3][10]
• 1693 – a brick or stone laid lengthways in a wall.^[7]
• 1774 – a buttress or tie-beam.^[3]
• 1844 – a crosspiece between the legs of a chair.^[3]
• 1845 – a litter for carrying the sick or injured.^[7][4]
• 1847 – a frame for an artist's canvas.^[3]
• 1870 – verb, to carry on a stretcher.^[3]
• 1876 – stretcher-bearer.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A frame with canvas or other material between two poles, used to carry a sick, injured or dead person lying down; a litter.^[11][5]
2. A wooden frame on which an artist's canvas is stretched.^[11][3][5]
3. A bar or crosspiece used as a brace, such as the rung between the legs of a chair.^[11][3][5]
4. A brick or stone laid with its long side along the face of a wall.^[5][12]
5. A board in a rowing boat against which the rower presses the feet.^[5][8]
6. A device for stretching or widening something, such as boots or gloves.^[2][3]
7. A worker who stretches fabrics or other material.^[2][3]
8. (chiefly Australian) A folding camp bed.^[5]
9. (archaic slang) An exaggerated story; a lie.^[5][3][12]
10. (obsolete, 1486–1674) In falconry, a toe of a hawk.^[3][5]

Verb

1. To carry someone on a stretcher: The injured player was stretchered off the pitch.^[3][5]

Word family

• stretcher-bearer
• stretcher bond

Related words

• stretch
• stark

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
10. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster