gopher

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a zealously energetic person (especially a salesman)
  2. noun a native or resident of Minnesota
  3. noun any of various terrestrial burrowing rodents of Old and New Worlds; often destroy crops

Etymology

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). Alternatively, from Muskogean.

In classic literature

Synonyms

goffer

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