stringer

[ string-er ]

noun

1. a person or thing that strings.
2. a long horizontal timber connecting upright posts.
3. Architecture. string ( def 15b ).
4. Civil Engineering. a longitudinal bridge girder for supporting part of a deck or railroad track between bents or piers.
5. a longitudinal reinforcement in the fuselage or wing of an airplane.
6. Also called string correspondent. Journalism. a part-time newspaper correspondent covering a local area for a paper published elsewhere: Compare staffer ( def 2 ).

   The Los Angeles paper has a correspondent in San Francisco but only a stringer in Seattle.

7. a stout string, rope, etc., strung strung through the gills and mouth of newly caught fish, so that they may be carried or put back in the water to keep them alive or fresh.
8. a contestant, player, or other person ranked according to skill or accomplishment (used in combination):

   Most of the conductors at the opera house were third-stringers.

9. Mining. a small vein or seam of ore, coal, etc.

stringer

/ ˈstrɪŋə /

noun

1. architect
   1. a long horizontal beam that is used for structural purposes
   2. another name for stringboard
2. nautical a longitudinal structural brace for strengthening the hull of a vessel
3. a journalist retained by a newspaper or news service on a part-time basis to cover a particular town or area

Other Words From

• re·stringer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of stringer¹

late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; string, -er ¹

Example Sentences

She moved to Jerusalem in 1966, at age 20, and lived there through two wars and one peace treaty, working as a journalist for The Jerusalem Post and as a stringer for Time magazine.

From New York Times

As a high school junior, he signed on as a stringer, feeding varsity wrestling and hockey results to the paper’s sports department.

From New York Times

The findings by the Pentagon's inspector general said US officials in Washington DC and Europe had failed to properly account for thousands of weapons, including stringer launchers and air defence missiles.

From BBC

All of which means the Wildcats’ quarterback room features a starter who’s as likely to make big mistakes as big plays, plus an unproven second stringer.

From Seattle Times

Before the true dawn of influencer marketing, Gymshark began to send branded stringer vests and tees to YouTube powerlifters on the West Coast.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• author
• biographer
• columnist
• correspondent
• critic
• dramatist
• editor
• essayist
• journalist
• novelist
• poet
• reporter
• screenwriter