retriever

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a gun dog trained to find and bring back shot game, or a dog belonging to one of the breeds developed for that work

   The retriever swam across the lake and returned with the fallen bird.

2. 2
   noun

   a person, device, or software component that finds and brings something back

   The archive's retriever located the requested document within seconds.

3. 3
   noun

   a surgical instrument used to recover material or an object from inside the body

   The surgeon used a small retriever to remove the stone through the catheter.

Common collocations

• golden retriever Adjective + noun

Formed from retrieve + the agent suffix -er, literally 'one that retrieves.' Retrieve entered English through Old French retrouver, 'to find again,' from re- ('again') + trouver ('to find'). The dog sense became established as specialized hunting breeds were developed.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images