Definition

1. Noun:
   • A device for carrying a sick, injured, or dead person: A portable frame, typically made of poles and a sheet of canvas or other material, used for transporting a person in a lying position.
   • A mechanical device for expanding something: A tool used to enlarge or shape items like shoes or gloves by applying tension.
   • A frame for an artist's canvas: A wooden framework on which canvas is stretched and secured, typically for oil painting.
   • A brick or stone laid lengthwise in a structure: In masonry, a brick or stone laid with its longest side parallel to the face of the wall.

Usage and Examples

• As a device for carrying a person:
  • The paramedics carefully placed the injured hiker on the stretcher.
  • The hospital has several wheeled stretchers in the emergency room.
• As a tool for expanding items:
  • Use a shoe stretcher to make those new boots more comfortable.
  • He inserted a glove stretcher to maintain its shape.
• As an artist's frame:
  • She tightened the canvas on the stretcher before starting to paint.
  • The large painting required a custom-made wooden stretcher.
• As a masonry term:
  • The bricklayer laid the stretchers in a running bond pattern.

Advanced Usage

• "Stretcher-bearer" (noun): A person who helps carry a stretcher, especially in military or emergency contexts.
  • The stretcher-bearers worked tirelessly to evacuate the wounded from the battlefield.
• On a stretcher: The state of being carried or transported via stretcher.
  • The patient was wheeled into surgery on a stretcher.

Variants and Related Words

• Stretch (verb): To lengthen, widen, or distend.
• Stretchy (adjective): Capable of being stretched; elastic.

Synonyms

• Litter: A stretcher for carrying a sick or wounded person.
• Gurney: A wheeled stretcher used in hospitals.
• Expander: A device for stretching something.

Phrasal Verbs / Compound Terms

• Stretcher case (noun): A person who is so ill or injured that they must be carried on a stretcher.
  • After the accident, there were several stretcher cases.
• Stretcher party (noun): A group of people assigned to carry stretchers.
  • The stretcher party was called to the scene.

Related Idioms

• To stretch the truth: To exaggerate or tell a lie. (Note: This idiom uses the verb "stretch," not the noun "stretcher," but is a common related expression.)
  • I think he's stretching the truth about his fishing catch.

Noun

1. a stone that forms the top of wall or building
2. a litter for transporting people who are ill or wounded or dead; usually consists of a sheet of canvas stretched between two poles
3. a mechanical device used to make something larger (as shoes or gloves) by stretching it
4. a wooden framework on which canvas is stretched and fixed for oil painting