Gopher

[F. gaufre waffle, honeycomb. See Gauffer.]
(Zoöl.)

1. One of several North American burrowing rodents of the genera Geomys and Thomomys, of the family Geomyidæ; -- called also pocket gopher and pouched rat. See Pocket gopher, and Tucan.

Note: The name was originally given by French settlers to many burrowing rodents, from their honeycombing the earth.

2. One of several western American species of the genus Spermophilus, of the family Sciuridæ; as, the gray gopher (Spermophilus Franklini) and the striped gopher (S. tridecemlineatus); -- called also striped prairie squirrel, leopard marmot, and leopard spermophile. See Spermophile.

3. A large land tortoise (Testudo Carilina) of the Southern United States, which makes extensive burrows.

4. A large burrowing snake (Spilotes Couperi) of the Southern United States.

Gopher drift (Mining), an irregular prospecting drift, following or seeking the ore without regard to regular grade or section. Raymond.

[obs.] A type of Internet service first floated around 1991 and obsolesced around 1995 by the World Wide Web. Gopher presents a menuing interface to a tree or graph of links; the links can be to documents, runnable programs, or other gopher menus arbitrarily far across the net.

Some claim that the gopher software, which was originally developed at the University of Minnesota, was named after the Minnesota Gophers (a sports team). Others claim the word derives from American slang gofer (from “go for”, dialectal “go fer”), one whose job is to run and fetch things. Finally, observe that gophers dig long tunnels, and the idea of tunneling through the net to find information was a defining metaphor for the developers. Probably all three things were true, but with the first two coming first and the gopher-tunnel metaphor serendipitously adding flavor and impetus to the project as it developed out of its concept stage.

Tutor's tip: Note: "Gofer" (one who runs errands for another) comes from the two words "go for". "Gopher" is a rodent-like animal that lives underground.

Look up gopher or gofer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Gopher may refer to:

Animal kingdom

• Gopher (animal), including:
  • Pocket gophers (family Geomyidae), about 40 species distributed from North America to Colombia
  • Several ground squirrels (tribe Marmotini) of North America, particularly those formerly classified as Spermophilus
• Gopher tortoise (genus Gopherus), distributed in North America

Other uses

• Minnesota, the "Gopher State"
• Minnesota Golden Gophers, University of Minnesota sports teams
• Gopher (protocol), for the distributed hypertext protocol. Named in honor of, and developed at, the University of Minnesota
• Gopher (train), a passenger train operated by Great Northern Railway
• Gopher wood, of unclear meaning, is mentioned in the Bible as the building material for Noah's ark
• Gofer, an errand-runner
• The SA-13 "Gopher", or 9K35 Strela-10, a Soviet surface to air missile system
• Gopher Gang, early 20th-century New York

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