stringer
[string-er]
- a person or thing that strings.
- a long horizontal timber connecting upright posts.
- Architecture. string(def 15b).
- Civil Engineering. a longitudinal bridge girder for supporting part of a deck or railroad track between bents or piers.
- a longitudinal reinforcement in the fuselage or wing of an airplane.
- Also called string correspondent. Journalism. a part-time newspaper correspondent covering a local area for a paper published elsewhere: The Los Angeles paper has a correspondent in San Francisco but only a stringer in Seattle.Compare staffer(def 2).
- a stout string, rope, etc., 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.
- 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.
- Mining. a small vein or seam of ore, coal, etc.
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Origin of stringer
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for stringer
Contemporary Examples
“They always seem to be on the move,” said Rodrigo Soberanes, a stringer for AP in Veracruz.
The real goal was going from this stringer service to become a network cameraman.
How ‘Transcendence’ Director Wally Pfister Became Christopher Nolan’s Secret WeaponAndrew Romano
April 17, 2014
The British-born Stringer likened Letterman to the satirical tradition of comedy in his home country.
A “stringer,” in the parlance of foreign correspondents, Sundaram sold stories to The New York Times and the Associated Press.
Stringer depicts a country that is beset by complications of both past imperialism and current globalism.
Historical Examples
At any rate, Stringer is after him, but he's got next to nothing to go upon.
The Yellow ClawSax Rohmer
Sowerby stared hard, and Stringer scratched his chin, reflectively.
The Yellow ClawSax Rohmer
You, Stringer, appear to think that Nurse Proctor is responsible.
The Yellow ClawSax Rohmer
Stringer emptied his glass of rum, and Sowerby disposed of his stout.
The Yellow ClawSax Rohmer
Even as he spoke, a drop of rain fell upon the back of Stringer's hand.
The Yellow ClawSax Rohmer
stringer
- architect
- a long horizontal beam that is used for structural purposes
- another name for stringboard
- nautical a longitudinal structural brace for strengthening the hull of a vessel
- a journalist retained by a newspaper or news service on a part-time basis to cover a particular town or area
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for stringer
n.
"newspaper correspondent paid by length of copy," 1950, probably from earlier figurative sense of "one who strings words together" (1774); agent noun from string (v.).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper