retriever

[ ri-tree-ver ]

noun

1. a person or thing that retrieves.
2. one of any of several breeds of dogs having a coarse, thick, oily coat, trained to retrieve game.
3. any dog trained to retrieve game.

retriever

/ rɪˈtriːvə /

noun

1. See flat-coated retriever, curly-coated retriever, Chesapeake Bay retriever, Labrador retriever, golden retriever
   one of a breed of large gun dogs that can be trained to retrieve game See golden retriever Labrador retriever Chesapeake Bay retriever curly-coated retriever flat-coated retriever
2. any dog used to retrieve shot game
3. a person or thing that retrieves

Word History and Origins

Origin of retriever¹

First recorded in 1480–90; retrieve + -er ¹

Example Sentences

On Wednesday, he clutched legal documents as he strode up to a television screen that showed his son at a child victim resource center, sitting at a table with a golden retriever by his side.

From Washington Post

Golden retrievers bounded across one of the many grand lawns, lap dog-types circled their owners with urgency, long-haired varieties panted, tongues out, in the shade.

From Time

The retriever will in turn hand off samples to a cargo spacecraft in orbit over Mars.

From Washington Post

Blaze the Labrador retriever has been training in Pennsylvania to detect the presence of coronavirus on humans.

From Washington Post

Google’s indexing power is what catapulted them to be the primary retriever of all web knowledge.

From Search Engine Watch

Twice in the past two weeks, this has entailed meeting a plane on the runway to retriever sick passengers who may be infected.

From The Daily Beast

The 15-part show was due to begin on March 3, with Peaches paring up with her Golden Retriever, Parper.

From The Daily Beast

Is your golden retriever on par with others, or could he stand to run a bit more?

From The Daily Beast

When his 14-year-old golden retriever dies, Peter Els calls 911.

From The Daily Beast

He resided in Santa Barbara, Calif., with his golden retriever dogs and surfed in his spare time.

From The Daily Beast

That "Frenchmen," alias red-legged partridges, shall be shot on sight, and given to the retriever to eat.

From Project Gutenberg

He had much more serious matter on hand to take notice of it, beyond giving himself a shake like a retriever fresh from a dip.

From Project Gutenberg

The dog, although a large and powerful retriever, whimpered, trembled and crawled 90 up close.

From Project Gutenberg

That's the dog I was going to run in the retriever trials, too.

From Project Gutenberg

A spaniel or retriever will generally rout out the fugitive.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• beagle