stringer

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English strenger, also strynger,^[2][3][4] formed from Middle English streng (“string”) + -er.^[2][4] The OED and the Shorter Oxford derive it from the noun or verb string and the suffix -er.^[5][6] It is found as a surname from the late 12th century,^[3] and the Middle English Dictionary cites a stringer of 1364.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A maker of bowstrings: 1420, in the York Memorandum Book, which regulates the craft of stryngercrafte.^[5][2] Etymonline dates it to the early 15th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The bowstring maker gave way to other people who string things: a workman winding thread on a bobbin (1598, obsolete), the fitter of strings to musical instruments, now especially pianos (1842), and a threader of beads (1850).^[5][3] From 1774 a stringer was figuratively one who strings words together, a contemptuous term for a writer,^[5][3] and Etymonline thinks this is probably the source of the journalist's sense, recorded from 1950, a correspondent paid by the length of copy.^[3] According to Hendrickson, such reporters pasted their published pieces into a string of clippings, which the editor measured to work out the pay.^[7] In building and engineering the word was used from the 1830s for horizontal members tying a framework together, in ships, bridges, staircases and railways, and since 1918 also for parts of an aircraft's wings and fuselage.^[5][6] In slang it has meant a man who frequents prostitutes, in Beaumont's Knight of the Burning Pestle,^[5][8] a swindler (1821) and in New Zealand a barmaid who encourages customers to drink (1881).^[8]

Timeline

• 1420 – a maker of bowstrings.^[5][2]
• 1598 – one who winds thread on a bobbin (obsolete).^[5]
• 1613 – a man who frequents prostitutes (obsolete).^[5] Green's Dictionary of Slang dates the play about 1607 and glosses the word as a pimp.^[8]
• 1774 – one who strings words together.^[5][3]
• 1821 – in slang, a swindler.^[8]
• 1830 – in shipbuilding, an inside strake supporting the ends of the beams.^[5]
• 1838 – a horizontal member connecting uprights in a framework; a tie-beam.^[5]
• 1842 – a workman who fits an instrument with strings.^[5]
• 1848 – in the United States, a longitudinal railway sleeper.^[5]
• 1883 – a timber supporting the steps of a staircase.^[5]
• 1918 – a lengthwise member of an aircraft's wing or fuselage.^[5]
• 1950 – a newspaper correspondent paid by the length of copy.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A part-time or freelance correspondent for a newspaper or news agency, often covering a particular place: She worked as a stringer in Lagos for two years.^[9][10][6]
2. A long, heavy horizontal timber or beam connecting uprights in a frame or supporting a floor.^{[9][11][10][5]}
3. A stringboard, the side member that supports the steps of a staircase.^[9][10][5]
4. A lengthwise structural member strengthening a ship's hull or an aircraft's wing or fuselage.^[10][5][6]
5. A person or thing that strings, such as a worker who fits a piano with strings.^[9][4][5]
6. A cord or wire, often with snaps, on which an angler strings the fish caught.^[11][4]
7. A narrow vein of mineral running through a mass of different rock.^[11][4][6]
8. A member of a team's specified string, often in combination, as in first-stringer.^[9]
9. (obsolete) A maker of bowstrings.^[5][6]

Related words

• string
• stringboard

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hendrickson, Robert (2008), The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th ed., New York: Facts on File
8. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
9. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster