Definition of "stringer" [string•er]

• One that strings: a stringer of beads. (noun)
• Architecture A long heavy horizontal timber used as a support or connector. (noun)
• Architecture A stringboard. (noun)
• A horizontal timber used to support upright posts. (noun)
• Sports A member of a specified string or squad on a team. Often used in combination: a first-stringer; a second-stringer. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "I believe the word stringer derived from the early practice of measuring column inches with a piece of string."
• "Whether you can get away with that sort of attitude as the head critic of the New York TImes, as opposed to a mere stringer, is something I wouldn't know, though."
• "Out in the field, a veteran Paris freelancer goes to desperate lengths for his next byline, while the new Cairo stringer is mercilessly manipulated by an outrageous war correspondent with an outsize ego."