gofer
or go-fer, go·pher
[goh-fer]
- an employee whose chief duty is running errands.
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Origin of gofer
1965–70; respelling of go for (verb phrase), with -er representing both vowel reduction in for and -er1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for gofer
Contemporary Examples
I was the gofer guy who made $285 a week cleaning toilets.
"Henry Hill was a just a gofer," remembers veteran crime reporter Pileggi.
Dougherty got his start in the news business as a gofer on The Washington Post sports desk in the 1970s.
Historical Examples
A relic of old times is found in the custom at Newark known as “Ringing for Gofer.”
The Great North Road: London to YorkCharles G. Harper
gofer
- slang, mainly US and Canadian an employee or assistant whose duties include menial tasks such as running errands
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Word Origin
C20: originally US: alteration of go for
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for gofer
n.
"errand-runner," 1956, American English coinage from go for (coffee, spare parts, etc.), with a pun on gopher.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper