gopher
pronunciation
How to pronounce gopher in British English:
UK [ˈgəʊfə(r)]
How to pronounce gopher in American English:
US [ˈgoʊfə(r)]
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- Noun:
- a zealously energetic person (especially a salesman)
- any of various terrestrial burrowing rodents of Old and New Worlds; often destroy crops
- burrowing rodent of the family Geomyidae having large external cheek pouches; of Central America and southwestern North America
- burrowing edible land tortoise of southeastern North America
Word Origin
- gopher (n.)
- burrowing squirrel, 1812, American English, perhaps an Englishing of Louisiana French gaufre "honeycomb, waffle," said to have been used by French settlers in reference to small mammals on analogy of the structure of their burrows, from Old French gaufre, walfre (12c.), which is from Frankish or some other Germanic source. The rodent was the nickname of people from Arkansas (1845) and later Minnesota (1872). The gopherwood tree of the Bible (used by Noah to make the ark, Gen. vi:14) is unrelated; it is from Hebrew gofer, name of a kind of wood now unidentified, perhaps meaning the cypress.
Example
- 1. That 'll make this place look like a gopher hole .
- 2. Six football competition forecasting result gopher ball !
- 3. It provides access to multiple services and documents like gopher does but is more ambitious in its method .
- 4. Are you catching the gopher ?
- 5. I want you to kill every gopher on the course !