Gopher definition

Gopher





Home | Index


We love those sites:

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Gopher \Go"pher\, n. [F. gaufre waffle, honeycomb. See
     {Gauffer}.] (Zool.)
     1. One of several North American burrowing rodents of the
        genera {Geomys} and {Thomomys}, of the family
        {Geomyid[ae]}; -- called also {pocket gopher} and {pouched
        rat}. See {Pocket gopher}, and {Tucan}.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The name was originally given by French settlers to
           many burrowing rodents, from their honeycombing the
           earth.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. One of several western American species of the genus
        {Spermophilus}, of the family {Sciurid[ae]}; as, the gray
        gopher ({Spermophilus Franklini}) and the striped gopher
        ({S. tridecemlineatus}); -- called also {striped prairie
        squirrel}, {leopard marmot}, and {leopard spermophile}.
        See {Spermophile}.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. A large land tortoise ({Testudo Carilina}) of the Southern
        United States, which makes extensive burrows.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. A large burrowing snake ({Spilotes Couperi}) of the
        Southern United States.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Gopher drift} (Mining), an irregular prospecting drift,
        following or seeking the ore without regard to regular
        grade or section. --Raymond.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Prairie \Prai"rie\, n. [F., an extensive meadow, OF. praerie,
     LL. prataria, fr. L. pratum a meadow.]
     1. An extensive tract of level or rolling land, destitute of
        trees, covered with coarse grass, and usually
        characterized by a deep, fertile soil. They abound
        throughout the Mississippi valley, between the Alleghanies
        and the Rocky mountains.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              From the forests and the prairies,
              From the great lakes of the northland. --Longfellow.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A meadow or tract of grass; especially, a so called
        natural meadow.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Prairie chicken} (Zool.), any American grouse of the genus
        {Tympanuchus}, especially {Tympanuchus Americanus}
        (formerly {Tympanuchus cupido}), which inhabits the
        prairies of the central United States. Applied also to the
        sharp-tailed grouse.
  
     {Prairie clover} (Bot.), any plant of the leguminous genus
        {Petalostemon}, having small rosy or white flowers in
        dense terminal heads or spikes. Several species occur in
        the prairies of the United States.
  
     {Prairie dock} (Bot.), a coarse composite plant ({Silphium
        terebinthaceum}) with large rough leaves and yellow
        flowers, found in the Western prairies.
  
     {Prairie dog} (Zool.), a small American rodent ({Cynomys
        Ludovicianus}) allied to the marmots. It inhabits the
        plains west of the Mississippi. The prairie dogs burrow in
        the ground in large warrens, and have a sharp bark like
        that of a dog. Called also {prairie marmot}.
  
     {Prairie grouse}. Same as {Prairie chicken}, above.
  
     {Prairie hare} (Zool.), a large long-eared Western hare
        ({Lepus campestris}). See {Jack rabbit}, under 2d {Jack}.
        
  
     {Prairie hawk}, {Prairie falcon} (Zool.), a falcon of Western
        North America ({Falco Mexicanus}). The upper parts are
        brown. The tail has transverse bands of white; the under
        parts, longitudinal streaks and spots of brown.
  
     {Prairie hen}. (Zool.) Same as {Prairie chicken}, above.
  
     {Prairie itch} (Med.), an affection of the skin attended with
        intense itching, which is observed in the Northern and
        Western United States; -- also called {swamp itch},
        {winter itch}.
  
     {Prairie marmot}. (Zool.) Same as {Prairie dog}, above.
  
     {Prairie mole} (Zool.), a large American mole ({Scalops
        argentatus}), native of the Western prairies.
  
     {Prairie pigeon}, {Prairie plover}, or {Prairie snipe}
        (Zool.), the upland plover. See {Plover}, n., 2.
  
     {Prairie rattlesnake} (Zool.), the massasauga.
  
     {Prairie snake} (Zool.), a large harmless American snake
        ({Masticophis flavigularis}). It is pale yellow, tinged
        with brown above.
  
     {Prairie squirrel} (Zool.), any American ground squirrel of
        the genus {Spermophilus}, inhabiting prairies; -- called
        also {gopher}.
  
     {Prairie turnip} (Bot.), the edible turnip-shaped farinaceous
        root of a leguminous plant ({Psoralea esculenta}) of the
        Upper Missouri region; also, the plant itself. Called also
        {pomme blanche}, and {pomme de prairie}.
  
     {Prairie warbler} (Zool.), a bright-colored American warbler
        ({Dendroica discolor}). The back is olive yellow, with a
        group of reddish spots in the middle; the under parts and
        the parts around the eyes are bright yellow; the sides of
        the throat and spots along the sides, black; three outer
        tail feathers partly white.
  
     {Prairie wolf}. (Zool.) See {Coyote}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  gopher
       n 1: a zealously energetic person (especially a salesman) [syn: {goffer}]
       2: any of various terrestrial burrowing rodents of Old and New
          Worlds; often destroy crops [syn: {ground squirrel}, {spermophile}]
       3: burrowing rodent of the family Geomyidae having large
          external cheek pouches; of Central America and
          southwestern North America [syn: {pocket gopher}, {pouched
          rat}]
       4: burrowing edible land tortoise of southeastern North America
          [syn: {gopher tortoise}, {gopher turtle}, {Gopherus
          polypemus}]

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  gopher n. 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.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  gopher
       
           A {distributed} document retrieval
          system which started as a {Campus Wide Information System} at
          the {University of Minnesota}, and which was popular in the
          early 1990s.
       
          Gopher is defined in {RFC 1436}.  The protocol is like a
          primitive form of {HTTP} (which came later).  Gopher lacks the
          {MIME} features of HTTP, but expressed the equivalent of a
          document's {MIME type} with a one-character code for the
          "{Gopher object type}".  At time of writing (2001), all Web
          browers should be able to access gopher servers, although few
          gopher servers exist anymore.
       
          {Tim Berners-Lee}, in his book "Weaving The Web" (pp.72-73),
          related his opinion that it was not so much the protocol
          limitations of gopher that made people abandon it in favor of
          HTTP/{HTML}, but instead the legal missteps on the part of the
          university where it was developed:
       
          "It was just about this time, spring 1993, that the University
          of Minnesota decided that it would ask for a license fee from
          certain classes of users who wanted to use gopher.  Since the
          gopher software being picked up so widely, the university was
          going to charge an annual fee.  The browser, and the act of
          browsing, would be free, and the server software would remain
          free to nonprofit and educational institutions.  But any other
          users, notably companies, would have to pay to use gopher
          server software.
       
          "This was an act of treason in the academic community and the
          Internet community.  Even if the university never charged
          anyone a dime, the fact that the school had announced it was
          reserving the right to charge people for the use of the gopher
          protocols meant it had crossed the line.  To use the
          technology was too risky.  Industry dropped gopher like a hot
          potato."
       
          (2001-03-31)
       
       

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Gopher
     a tree from the wood of which Noah was directed to build the ark
     (Gen. 6:14). It is mentioned only there. The LXX. render this
     word by "squared beams," and the Vulgate by "planed wood." Other
     versions have rendered it "pine" and "cedar;" but the weight of
     authority is in favour of understanding by it the cypress tree,
     which grows abundantly in Chaldea and Armenia.
     

















Powered by Blog Dictionary [BlogDict]
Kindly supported by Vaffle Invitation Code Get a Freelance Job - Outsource Your Projects | Threadless Coupon
All rights reserved. (2008-2024)