stretcher

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A litter, usually of canvas stretched over a frame, used to transport the sick, wounded, or dead.
• noun One that stretches, such as the wooden framework on which canvas is stretched for an oil painting.
• noun A usually horizontal tie beam or brace serving to support or extend a framework.
• noun A brick or stone laid parallel to the face of a wall so that only its long side is showing.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun One who or that which stretches or, expands.
• noun In masonry, a brick or stone laid horizontally with its length in the direction of the face of the wall, as distinguished from a header, which is laid lengthwise across the thickness of the wall, so that its small head or end is seen in the external face of the wall. See cut under inbond.
• noun One of the cylindrical rails between the legs of a chair; a round.
• noun In cabinet-making, a low shelf serving as a brace or stay to the legs of a table, and roomy enough to hold a vase, a basket of flowers, or other ornament.
• noun In carpentry, a tie-timber in a frame.
• noun Nautical, a narrow piece of plank placed across a boat for the rowers to set their feet against; also, a cross-piece placed between a boat's sides to keep them apart when the boat is hoisted up and griped.
• noun A light, simple litter, without inclosure or top, upon which a dead body or a wounded person can be carried: so called because generally composed of canvas stretched on a frame, or because the body is stretched out upon it. Such frames, covered with canvas, are often used as beds, as in camping.
• noun A flat board on which corpses are stretched or laid out preparatory to coffining.
• noun In angling: The leader at the extreme end of the line.
• noun The tail-fly; the fly that is fastened to the cast called the stretcher; a stretcher-fly. See tail-fly (under fly) and whip.
• noun A statement which overstretches the truth; a lie.
• noun In carriage-building, same as strainer, 4.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun One who, or that which, stretches.
• noun (Masonry) A brick or stone laid with its longer dimension in the line of direction of the wall.
• noun (Arch.) A piece of timber used in building.
• noun A narrow crosspiece of the bottom of a boat against which a rower braces his feet.
• noun A crosspiece placed between the sides of a boat to keep them apart when hoisted up and griped.
• noun A litter, or frame, for carrying disabled, wounded, or dead persons.
• noun Slang An overstretching of the truth; a lie.
• noun One of the rods in an umbrella, attached at one end to one of the ribs, and at the other to the tube sliding upon the handle.
• noun An instrument for stretching boots or gloves.
• noun The frame upon which canvas is stretched for a painting.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun One who, or that which, stretches.
• noun A simple litter designed to carry a sick, injured, or dead person.
• noun A frame on which a canvas is stretched for painting.
• noun A device to stretch shoes or gloves.
• noun A brick laid with the longest side exposed (compare header).
• noun architecture A piece of timber used in building.
• noun slang A lie; an overstretching of the truth.
• noun nautical A board against which a rower places his feet.
• noun nautical A crosspiece placed between the sides of a boat to keep them apart when hoisted up and gripped.
• noun One of the rods in an umbrella, attached at one end to one of the ribs, and at the other to the tube sliding upon the handle.
• noun An instrument for stretching boots or gloves.
• noun obsolete A penis, especially a long penis.
• verb transitive To carry (an injured person) on a stretcher.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

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