gofer

See also: go-fer and gòfer

English

Alternative forms

• go-fer, gopher

Etymology

From go +‎ fer (for), as in “go for coffee” or “go for that document” etc. Possibly also a pun on the rodent gopher, animals known for both their vast tunneling and their hoarding activities.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡoʊfɚ/
• Homophone: gopher

Noun

gofer (plural gofers)

1. (informal) A worker who runs errands; an errand boy.
   • 1989 December 3, Pam Mitchell, Ronnie Gilbert, “Carrying On The Honorable Tradition Of 'Protest Music'”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 21, page 9:

     They were learning to do what in all my years in the music business I never saw — which was women running a record company, women producing concerts, women learning to be engineers, women moving into this absolutely all-male enclave. You never saw a woman in any of those positions, in any of that work except as secretaries and "go-fers".

   • 2001, William Hairston, Passion and Politics:

     More and more people agreed to help with the mailings, the hand-distribution of flyers, and telephonings. Others agreed to be gofers and fetchers.

Synonyms

• dogsbody

Translations

worker

• Czech: poskok (cs) m
• Danish: stikirenddreng, fidibus (slang)
• Dutch: loopjongen (nl) m, manusje-van-alles (nl) n
• Finnish: juoksupoika (fi), lähetti (fi), tsuppari (fi)
• German: Aushilfskraft f
• Hungarian: fullajtár (hu), lóti-futi (hu)
• Japanese: パシリ (pashiri)
• Māori: tonotono
• Norwegian: løpegutt m, visergutt m
• Plautdietsch: Schekjbenjel m
• Polish: chłopiec na posyłki (pl) m
• Portuguese: moço de recados m
• Russian: ма́льчик на побегушках (ru) m (málʹčik na pobeguškax)
• Spanish: mandadero (es) m
• Swedish: springpojke (sv) c
• Tamil: அல்லக்கை (ta) (allakkai)
• Ukrainian: хлопчик на побігашках m (xlopčyk na pobihaškax), хлопчик на побігеньках m (xlopčyk na pobihenʹkax)

Further reading

• gofer on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “gofer”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Forge, forge

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from English gopher, from Biblical Hebrew גֹּ֫פֶר (gōfer).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈɡofeɾ/ [ˈɡoː.fɛɾ], /ɡoˈfeɾ/ [ɡoˈfɛɾ]
  • IPA^(key): (with nativization) /ˈɡopeɾ/ [ˈɡoː.pɛɾ], (with nativization) /ɡoˈpeɾ/ [ɡoˈpɛɾ]
• Rhymes: -ofeɾ, (with nativization) -opeɾ, -eɾ
• Syllabification: go‧fer

Noun

gofer or gofér (Baybayin spelling ᜄᜓᜉᜒᜇ᜔) (biblical)

1. gopher wood
   • 1905, Ang Dating Biblia, Manila: Philippines Bible Society, Genesis 6:14:

     Gumawa ka ng isang sasakyang kahoy na gofer; gagawa ka ng mga silid sa sasakyan, at iyong sisiksikan sa loob at sa labas ng sahing.

     Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

See also

• Arka ni Noe
• sipres