"gofer" meaning in English

See gofer in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈɡoʊfɚ/ [US] Forms: gofers [plural]
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. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|go|fer|tr2=for}} go + fer (for) Head templates: {{en-noun}} gofer (plural gofers)
  1. (informal) A worker who runs errands; an errand boy. Tags: informal Categories (topical): Occupations, People Synonyms: dogsbody, go-fer, gopher Translations (worker): poskok [masculine] (Czech), stikirenddreng (Danish), fidibus [slang] (Danish), loopjongen [masculine] (Dutch), manusje-van-alles [neuter] (Dutch), juoksupoika (Finnish), lähetti (Finnish), tsuppari (Finnish), Aushilfskraft [feminine] (German), fullajtár (Hungarian), lóti-futi (Hungarian), パシリ (pashiri) (Japanese), tonotono (Maori), Schekjbenjel [masculine] (Plautdietsch), chłopiec na posyłki [masculine] (Polish), moço de recados [masculine] (Portuguese), ма́льчик на побегушках (málʹčik na pobeguškax) [masculine] (Russian), mandadero [masculine] (Spanish), அல்லக்கை (allakkai) (Tamil)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "go",
        "3": "fer",
        "tr2": "for"
      },
      "expansion": "go + fer (for)",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gofers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "gofer (plural gofers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
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        },
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Tamil terms with redundant script codes",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with redundant script codes",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Czech translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Danish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Japanese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Maori translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Plautdietsch translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Tamil translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Occupations",
          "orig": "en:Occupations",
          "parents": [
            "People",
            "Work",
            "Human",
            "Human activity",
            "All topics",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "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:",
          "text": "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\".",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, William Hairston, Passion and Politics:",
          "text": "More and more people agreed to help with the mailings, the hand-distribution of flyers, and telephonings. Others agreed to be gofers and fetchers.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A worker who runs errands; an errand boy."
      ],
      "id": "en-gofer-en-noun-CIQqCFwx",
      "links": [
        [
          "worker",
          "worker"
        ],
        [
          "errand boy",
          "errand boy"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) A worker who runs errands; an errand boy."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "dogsbody"
        },
        {
          "word": "go-fer"
        },
        {
          "word": "gopher"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "worker",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "poskok"
        },
        {
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "worker",
          "word": "stikirenddreng"
        },
        {
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "worker",
          "tags": [
            "slang"
          ],
          "word": "fidibus"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "worker",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "loopjongen"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "worker",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "manusje-van-alles"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "worker",
          "word": "juoksupoika"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "worker",
          "word": "lähetti"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "worker",
          "word": "tsuppari"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "worker",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Aushilfskraft"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "worker",
          "word": "fullajtár"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "worker",
          "word": "lóti-futi"
        },
        {
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "pashiri",
          "sense": "worker",
          "word": "パシリ"
        },
        {
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Maori",
          "sense": "worker",
          "word": "tonotono"
        },
        {
          "code": "pdt",
          "lang": "Plautdietsch",
          "sense": "worker",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Schekjbenjel"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "worker",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "chłopiec na posyłki"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "worker",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "moço de recados"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "málʹčik na pobeguškax",
          "sense": "worker",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "ма́льчик на побегушках"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "worker",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "mandadero"
        },
        {
          "code": "ta",
          "lang": "Tamil",
          "roman": "allakkai",
          "sense": "worker",
          "word": "அல்லக்கை"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡoʊfɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophone": "gopher"
    }
  ],
  "word": "gofer"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "go",
        "3": "fer",
        "tr2": "for"
      },
      "expansion": "go + fer (for)",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gofers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "gofer (plural gofers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English compound terms",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with homophones",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "Tamil terms with redundant script codes",
        "Terms with Czech translations",
        "Terms with Danish translations",
        "Terms with Dutch translations",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Hungarian translations",
        "Terms with Japanese translations",
        "Terms with Maori translations",
        "Terms with Plautdietsch translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Portuguese translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations",
        "Terms with Tamil translations",
        "en:Occupations",
        "en:People"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "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:",
          "text": "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\".",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, William Hairston, Passion and Politics:",
          "text": "More and more people agreed to help with the mailings, the hand-distribution of flyers, and telephonings. Others agreed to be gofers and fetchers.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A worker who runs errands; an errand boy."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "worker",
          "worker"
        ],
        [
          "errand boy",
          "errand boy"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) A worker who runs errands; an errand boy."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡoʊfɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophone": "gopher"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "dogsbody"
    },
    {
      "word": "go-fer"
    },
    {
      "word": "gopher"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "worker",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "poskok"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "worker",
      "word": "stikirenddreng"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "worker",
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ],
      "word": "fidibus"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "worker",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "loopjongen"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "worker",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "manusje-van-alles"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "worker",
      "word": "juoksupoika"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "worker",
      "word": "lähetti"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "worker",
      "word": "tsuppari"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "worker",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Aushilfskraft"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "worker",
      "word": "fullajtár"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "worker",
      "word": "lóti-futi"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "pashiri",
      "sense": "worker",
      "word": "パシリ"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Maori",
      "sense": "worker",
      "word": "tonotono"
    },
    {
      "code": "pdt",
      "lang": "Plautdietsch",
      "sense": "worker",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Schekjbenjel"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "worker",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "chłopiec na posyłki"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "worker",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "moço de recados"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "málʹčik na pobeguškax",
      "sense": "worker",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "ма́льчик на побегушках"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "worker",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "mandadero"
    },
    {
      "code": "ta",
      "lang": "Tamil",
      "roman": "allakkai",
      "sense": "worker",
      "word": "அல்லக்கை"
    }
  ],
  "word": "gofer"
}

Download raw JSONL data for gofer meaning in English (4.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.