gopher

1
[ goh-fer ]
See synonyms for gopher on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. any of several ground squirrels of the genus Citellus, of the prairie regions of North America.

  1. Gopher, a native or inhabitant of Minnesota (used as a nickname).

  2. Gopher, Computers.

    • a protocol for a menu-based system of accessing documents on the internet.

    • any program that implements this protocol.

verb (used without object)
  1. Mining.

    • to mine unsystematically.

    • to enlarge a hole, as in loose soil, with successively larger blasts.

Origin of gopher

1
First recorded in 1785–95; earlier megopher, magopher “gopher tortoise”; of obscure origin; spelling copies gopher wood

Other definitions for gopher (2 of 2)

gopher2
[ goh-fer ]

nounSlang.

Origin of gopher

2
First recorded in 1925–30; respelling of gofer by association with gopher1

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use gopher in a sentence

  • A thirteen year old boy, living on rats and gophers and half-rotten canned food.

    Second Variety | Philip Kindred Dick
  • The rodents which are most destructive to tree seeds are the ground squirrels, the chipmunks, the mice, and the gophers.

    Our National Forests | Richard H. Douai Boerker
  • If gophers could kill dogs it would rather have gophers; when microbes kill us it will rather have microbes than people.

    The Wrong Twin | Harry Leon Wilson
  • Dogs killed gophers if they caught them, and human beings killed chickens for Sunday dinners.

    The Wrong Twin | Harry Leon Wilson
  • Thus, it was possible when comparing different kinds of pocket gophers to use only one age class of one season of one sex.

British Dictionary definitions for gopher

gopher

/ (ˈɡəʊfə) /


noun
  1. Also called: pocket gopher any burrowing rodent of the family Geomyidae, of North and Central America, having a thickset body, short legs, and cheek pouches

  2. another name for ground squirrel

  1. any burrowing tortoise of the genus Gopherus, of SE North America

  2. gopher snake another name for bull snake

Origin of gopher

1
C19: shortened from earlier megopher or magopher, of obscure origin

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