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

I know that during college you worked as a stringer for Time magazine, but then you abandoned the glorious heights of journalism for the muck and shadows of foreign policy.

From Freakonomics

Rebound and liveliness come courtesy of a carbon-infused “energy backbone” that acts like a stringer in the ski, boosting energy return.

From Outside Online

Carbon stringers run its entire length, boosting torsional rigidity for bomber edge hold while adding liveliness, all while keeping grams to a minimum.

From Outside Online

The only additional gear you’ll need are an extra arrow or two, and a stringer for your fish.

From Popular-Science

I also appreciated the ability to hold my position at the push of a button, which made re-rigging, putting fish on a stringer, and other complicated tasks a lot less work in heavy current.

From Popular-Science

“They always seem to be on the move,” said Rodrigo Soberanes, a stringer for AP in Veracruz.

From The Daily Beast

When Howard Stringer was appointed president of CBS News in October 1986, the occasion was sufficiently bizarre—really?

From The Daily Beast

The real goal was going from this stringer service to become a network cameraman.

From The Daily Beast

The British-born Stringer likened Letterman to the satirical tradition of comedy in his home country.

From The Daily Beast

A “stringer,” in the parlance of foreign correspondents, Sundaram sold stories to The New York Times and the Associated Press.

From The Daily Beast

"Some of Stringer's people seem to have stolen the cheque from Mr. Soames," said the archdeacon.

From Project Gutenberg

Plato had belonged to a Mr. Stringer who, the slave always asserted, never joined the rebels.

From Project Gutenberg

Wagner would have it that with the Dutchman he ceased to be a mere stringer of opera verses and became the full poet.

From Project Gutenberg

There is no bound, or limit, I am assured, to the presumption of such as this stringer of foolish rhymes.

From Project Gutenberg

Lady Edward Stringer is giving some sort of function, and therell be a lot of people you know.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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