stringer
nounUK /stɹɪŋə/ · CA, US /stɹɪŋɚ/
Etymology From string + -er.
13 senses
- 1Someone who threads something; one who makes or provides…
- 2Someone who strings someone along.
- 3A horizontal timber that supports upright posts, or…
- 4The side rail supporting the rungs of a ladder or the…
- 5A small screw-hook to which piano strings are sometimes attached.
- 6A freelance correspondent not on the regular newspaper…
- 7A person who plays on a particular string.
- 8Wooden strip running lengthwise down the centre of a…
- 9A hard-hit ball.
- 10A cord or chain, sometimes with additional loops, that…
- 11A pallet or skid used when shipping less than truckload…
- 12A libertine; a wencher.
- 13A person who deliberately states that a certain bird is…
Someone who threads something; one who makes or provides strings, especially for bows.
- Be content to put your trust in honest stringers.1545, Roger Ascham, Toxophilus:
Someone who strings someone along.
A horizontal timber that supports upright posts, or supports the hull of a vessel.
- A startled man looked out the office window and then rushed for the door, but the boys were too quick for him. They were lying behind a wooden stringer in the lot before he even got near the door.1945, John Steinbeck, Cannery Row:
Business, Carpentry, Construction, Manufacturing The side rail supporting the rungs of a ladder or the steps of a flight of stairs.
A small screw-hook to which piano strings are sometimes attached.
Journalism, Media A freelance correspondent not on the regular newspaper staff, especially one retained on a part-time basis to report on events in a particular place.
- And he told a few stories about time he had spent in New York in the 1950s as a stringer for the Asahi newspapers… about meeting Diana Vreeland and Truman Capote and Judy Holiday.1991, Douglas Coupland, “Enter Hyperspace”, in Generation X, New York: St. Martin's Press, →OCLC:
Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports A person who plays on a particular string.
Ball games, Baseball, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports Slang A hard-hit ball.
Fishing, Hobbies, Lifestyle A cord or chain, sometimes with additional loops, that is threaded through the mouth and gills of caught fish.
- "Okay, that's a keeper," Harold said as he netted the 3-pounder and put him on a stringer over the side of the boat.1970, Field & Stream, volume 75, number 7, page 76:
A pallet or skid used when shipping less than truckload (LTL) freight. A platform typically constructed of timber or plastic designed such that freight may be stacked on top, able to be lifted by a forklift.
Obsolete A libertine; a wencher.
- A whoreson tyrant! He has been an old stringer in's days1607 (first performance), Francis Beaumont, “The Knight of the Burning Pestle”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
Biology, Birdwatching, Natural sciences, Ornithology A person who deliberately states that a certain bird is present when it is not; one who knowingly misleads other birders about the occurrence of a bird, especially a rarity.
- [T]hose fellows know how to spot a stringer at work.1980, Bill Oddie, Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book, page 82:
- Derived terms
- bowstringer, first-stringer, second-stringer, third-stringer