gurney

Definition

A stretcher having wheeled legs.

Etymology

Unknown. Possibly from Gurney cab, a type of horse-drawn cab on wheels named after Theodore Gurney, the US inventor credited with creating and patenting it in about 1883. For the surname, see Gurney.

Example Sentences

• "The death row convict was strapped into the gurney in order to be given the lethal injection."
• "Yet her vision has narrowed strangely (good, for she was in a medical facility, if she were having a hemorrhage or a stroke it could not be happening at a more convenient time) so that she was able to see little in the fluorescent-lit space except the man who lay motionless on a gurney beneath the strongest of the lights."
• "I’m pretty sure I didn’t actively steer towards the tree, but… I don’t know. I just remember that wave of despair and then the EMTs pulling me out of the car and putting me on a gurney."