DCHP-1 Online

stretcher Fur Trade

• n. a device, such as a willow wand fashioned into a hoop, or a thin board of appropriate shape, used by trappers to stretch,their pelts to dry. [See pictures at stretcher.]

  See also: fur stretcher  skin stretcher  

  • 1810  (1950)  [. . . he accordingly gave up 32 Seasoned Beaver ... I seasoned but badly stretched Otter. . . .]
  • 1921  After that, it is taken off the stretcher and rubbed together between the hands and pulled between two people.
  • 1931  [They were] whittling out muskrat stretchers with crooked knives. . . .
  • 1948  Marten stretchers are about three feet long and four inches wide, the whole length tapering off from the shoulders to a point at the nose.
  • 1965  [Caption] Beaver pelts hang in stretchers (left) to dry.