A stretcher is a flat, portable bed used to carry someone who is injured or too sick to walk. Picture a sturdy canvas or plastic surface stretched between two long poles, with handles at each end so two people can lift and carry it. Emergency medical workers use stretchers to move patients safely from accident scenes into ambulances, and hospitals use them to transport patients between rooms.

The design is simple but crucial: it keeps an injured person lying flat and supported while being moved, which can prevent further harm. If someone breaks their leg on a hiking trail, rescuers might carry them out on a stretcher rather than making them hobble down the mountain.

Stretchers have been used for thousands of years. During wars, soldiers called stretcher bearers would run onto battlefields to carry wounded fighters to medical tents. Today's stretchers often have wheels and can be raised or lowered, but the basic idea remains the same: moving someone who can't move themselves.

In construction, a stretcher also means a brick laid lengthwise in a wall, showing its long side. But when you hear the word in everyday conversation, it almost always refers to the medical device used for carrying people.