stretcher

IPA/ˈstretʃə(r)/
KK[strˈɛtʃɚ]IPA/ˈstretʃər/

stretcher — noun

  • stretchersingular
  • stretchersplural

1. a portable support used to move someone who is too sick, hurt, or weak to walk

1.nounB2
Definition

a portable support used to move someone who is too sick, hurt, or weak to walk

Example

Daichi and two firefighters lifted the hiker onto a stretcher beside the trail.

onto a stretcher

The injured skier was strapped to a stretcher before the helicopter arrived.

Common collocations
  • onto a stretcher
  • on a stretcher
  • ambulance stretcher
  • folding stretcher
Synonyms
  • gurney

    often means a hospital stretcher with wheels

  • litter

    more formal and common in rescue or military writing

Grammar Patterns

onto a stretcher

on a stretcher

load a stretcher into an ambulance

Usage Note

Usually appears in medical or rescue situations. A person lies on a stretcher, while staff lift, carry, or load the stretcher itself.

Common Mistakes

They carried him in a stretcher.
They carried him on a stretcher.
Use 'on' because the person lies on top of it.

2. a wooden support that keeps canvas pulled tight while an artist prepares or pain

2.nounC1
Definition

a wooden support that keeps canvas pulled tight while an artist prepares or paints it

Example

Rohan checked the stretcher before pulling the new canvas across it.

stretch canvas over a stretcher

The art teacher showed us how to staple the canvas to the stretcher.

staple canvas to a stretcher

Common collocations
  • canvas stretcher
  • wooden stretcher
  • pull canvas across a stretcher
  • staple canvas to a stretcher

Grammar Patterns

stretch canvas over a stretcher

staple canvas to a stretcher

wooden stretcher

Usage Note

Used in art contexts for the inner support under raw canvas. Distinguish from an outer frame, which usually surrounds a finished picture.

Common Mistakes

The painter put the picture on a frame before starting.
The painter stretched the canvas over a stretcher before starting.
A stretcher holds raw canvas, while a frame usually surrounds a finished painting.

stretcher — verb

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

For noun/1, stretcher is the general word for a portable support used to carry someone who cannot walk. Gurney often means a hospital stretcher with wheels, so it fits corridors and emergency rooms better than mountain rescues. Litter is more formal and is common in military or outdoor rescue writing, especially when several people carry it by hand. Trolley is much broader and can mean many kinds of wheeled carts, so it is not specific enough for a patient carrier. Compare: The medic wheeled the patient down the hall on a gurney. Volunteers carried the injured runner on a litter across the rocks. The nurse moved boxes on a trolley, not a stretcher.

stretcher ↗gurney ↗litter ↗trolley ↗

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

Stretcher was formed in English from stretch and the ending -er. The basic idea is something that keeps another thing stretched out or helps move it while extended, which later gave the medical sense of a carrier for an injured person and the art sense of a frame that holds canvas tight.

First known use

15th century

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a Verb