gopher

 

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡəʊfə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡoʊfɚ/
• Rhymes: -əʊfə(ɹ)

Perhaps an adaptation of Cajun French gaufre (literally “honeycomb, waffle”), based on the analogy of holes in the ground to the indentations in a honeycomb or a waffle (doublet of waffle).^[1][2] Alternatively, from Muskogean.^[3]

gopher (plural gophers)

1. A small burrowing rodent native to North and Central America, especially in the family Geomyidae (true gophers).

   Hyponym: pocket gopher

2. A ground squirrel (Marmotinae spp.).
3. A gopher tortoise (Gopherus spp.).
4. A gopher rockfish (Sebastes carnatus).

• gauffre

• gopher wood

gopher (plural gophers)

1. Alternative spelling of gofer
   • 2015 March 12, Bill Mann, “The film that makes me cry: Local Hero”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Crackpot Texan oil magnate Felix Happer (Burt Lancaster) gets the idea that a small Scottish fishing village would be a marvellous acquisition for his so-rich-it-makes-you-sick company, Knox Oil and Gas, so he sends an executive gopher named MacIntyre (because that sounds Scottish, yeah – played by Peter Riegert) to close the deal and get the pipeline pencilled in.

•   gopher on Wikipedia.Wikipedia