gurney
noun
a flat, padded table or stretcher with legs and wheels, for transporting patients or bodies.
gurney
American
[gur-nee]
/ ˈgɜr ni /
noun
-
gurneys
plural
Gurney
1
British
/ ˈɡɜːnɪ /
noun
gurney
2
British
/ ˈɡɜːnɪ /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of gurney
First recorded in 1935–40; of uncertain origin; perhaps after J. Theodore Gurney, American inventor, who invented a two-wheeled horse-drawn cab in 1883
Explanation
A gurney is a device used to move a patient who can't easily walk and needs to lie flat. Unlike a stretcher, a gurney has wheels so that it doesn't need to be carried. When an EMT transports a patient from an ambulance into a hospital emergency room, she uses a gurney. Patients with back injuries often require a gurney so that they can be moved safely, and you might find yourself on a gurney if you need any kind of surgery that calls for general anesthesia. When this word first appeared in the 1920s, it referred to hospital carts used to transport food and laundry.
Vocabulary lists containing gurney
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Corinna Barrett Lain: So when you think of the obfuscation, you know, you might want to ask yourself: Why are they on a gurney?
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026
Video the department shared on social media showed firefighters standing atop a mound of garbage in the street as paramedics stood by with a gurney.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
Styles channels Noah Wyle’s Dr. Robby, marching toward an incoming patient on a gurney as she’s pushed through the ER hallway.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2026
It’s said that he was dictating more criticism on the gurney that carried him to his final operation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
He wheeled the gurney to the embalming table.
From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
DIY influencer Jasmine Gurney has documented an impressive and exhausting sounding list of tasks on Instagram.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
The top back row options for coach Stefanie Wigfall, who will likely pass the 400-win mark this season, are senior Olive Shum and Mira Costa transfer Blake Gurney.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
Sixteen emergencies were tackled by Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service on Thursday afternoon, including a fire at Mousehold Heath, off Gurney Road in the city.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
Over the course of his career, Gurney has authored more than 180 scientific papers that have received more than 20,000 citations.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 18, 2026
He had outlived by many years the catastrophe to the great banking firm with which the name of Gurney is associated.
From The Life of George Borrow by Clement K. Shorter
Background actors who fill the overcrowded waiting room or lie on gurneys waiting for treatment have medical journeys organized by the show’s production team.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
The new season doesn’t ease up on its episodic biopsies of bad policy results piling up on the gurneys lining the trauma center’s walls.
From Salon ● Jan. 8, 2026
An image published by state media on Monday showed a room in a main hospital in the city flooded with murky water and two patients seated on gurneys.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2025
As the scale of destruction emerged, Myanmar officials declared a "mass casualty area" at Naypyidaw General Hospital, where patients lay on gurneys outside, intravenous drips hanging from makeshift stands.
From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2025
Behind the facade lies a vast floor with no halls and no doors—just a gigantic room, doctors and nurses behind white masks, test tubes and pipettes, incubators and gurneys.
From "Legend" by Marie Lu
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
