Dictionary

stringer en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /stɹɪŋə/ (UK)
• /stɹɪŋɚ/ (Canada, US)
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From string + -er.

Meanings

1. 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:
2. Someone who strings someone along.
3. 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:
4. The side rail supporting the rungs of a ladder or the steps of a flight of stairs.
5. A small screw-hook to which piano strings are sometimes attached.
6. 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:
7. A person who plays on a particular string.
8. Wooden strip running lengthwise down the centre of a surfboard, for strength.
9. (slang) A hard-hit ball.
10. 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:
11. 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.
12. (obsolete) A libertine; a wencher.
    • A whoreson tyrant! He has been an old stringer in's days 1607 (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):
13. 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:

Forms

Deriveds

bowstringer · third-stringer · second-stringer · first-stringer

Synonyms

string · stringboard · stringpiece · stile · stringboard · stringpiece · rail · string

Translations (26)

de Saitenaufzieher (one who threads, strings) · de Stützbalken (horizontal timber or piece) · de Holm (horizontal timber or piece) · de Holm (wooden strip on a surfboard) · de Strebe (horizontal timber or piece) · it inviato (freelance correspondent) · de Treppenwange (horizontal timber or piece) · de Führer (one who strings someone along) · mi kauhuahua (horizontal timber or piece) · mi kauhua (horizontal timber or piece) · de Pfette (horizontal timber or piece) · it montante (horizontal timber or piece) · pt correspondente frila (freelance correspondent) · de Tragbalken (horizontal timber or piece) · de Längsbalken (horizontal timber or piece) · de freier Mitarbeiter (freelance correspondent) · fi poikkipuu (horizontal timber or piece) · fr lisse (horizontal timber or piece) · pt stringer (freelance correspondent) · it giornalista (freelance correspondent) · it longherina (horizontal timber or piece) · de Besaiter (one who threads, strings) · de Streckbalken (horizontal timber or piece) · it corrispondente libero (freelance correspondent) · it cordaio (one who threads, strings) · it traversa (horizontal timber or piece)