Gopher : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: Gopher	by the DICT Development Group
6 results for Gopher
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
gopher n a zealously energetic person (especially a salesman) [syn: goffer, gopher] a native or resident of Minnesota Synonym(s): Minnesotan, Gopher any of various terrestrial burrowing rodents of Old and New Worlds; often destroy crops Synonym(s): ground squirrel, gopher, spermophile burrowing rodent of the family Geomyidae having large external cheek pouches; of Central America and southwestern North America Synonym(s): gopher, pocket gopher, pouched rat burrowing edible land tortoise of southeastern North America Synonym(s): gopher tortoise, gopher turtle, gopher, Gopherus polypemus
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
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. From the forests and the prairies, From the great lakes of the northland. --Longfellow. 2. A meadow or tract of grass; especially, a so called natural meadow. {Prairie chicken} (Zo[94]l.), any American grouse of the genus {Tympanuchus}, especially {T. Americanus} (formerly {T. 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} (Zo[94]l.), 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} (Zo[94]l.), a large long-eared Western hare ({Lepus campestris}). See {Jack rabbit}, under 2d {Jack}. {Prairie hawk}, {Prairie falcon} (Zo[94]l.), 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}. (Zo[94]l.) 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}. (Zo[94]l.) Same as {Prairie dog}, above. {Prairie mole} (Zo[94]l.), a large American mole ({Scalops argentatus}), native of the Western prairies. {Prairie pigeon}, {plover}, [or] {snipe} (Zo[94]l.), the upland plover. See {Plover}, n., 2. {Prairie rattlesnake} (Zo[94]l.), the massasauga. {Prairie snake} (Zo[94]l.), a large harmless American snake ({Masticophis flavigularis}). It is pale yellow, tinged with brown above. {Prairie squirrel} (Zo[94]l.), 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} (Zo[94]l.), 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}. (Zo[94]l.) See {Coyote}.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Gopher \Go"pher\, n. [F. gaufre waffle, honeycomb. See {Gauffer}.] (Zo[94]l.) 1. One of several North American burrowing rodents of the genera {Geomys} and {Thomomys}, of the family {Geomyid[91]}; -- 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 {Sciurid[91]}; 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.
From Jargon File (4.2.0, 31 JAN 2000) [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 (15Feb98) [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.