: a burrowing land tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) of the southern U.S.
broadly: any of several related land tortoises
called alsogopher tortoise
2
a
: any of a family (Geomyidae) of burrowing rodents of western North America, Central America, and the southern U.S. that are the size of a large rat and have large cheek pouches opening beside the mouth
called alsopocket gopher
b
: any of several small ground squirrels (genus Spermophilus) of the prairie region of North America
: an employee whose duties include running errands : lackey
Examples of gopher in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The first sign of trouble bubbled up from gopher holes a stone’s throw from Stan Ledgerwood’s front door.—Mark Olalde, ProPublica, 6 May 2024 Line the bottoms with hardware cloth (not chicken wire) to exclude hungry gophers.—Nan Sterman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Apr. 2024 Kayaks are also available for rent, and the island has resident gopher tortoises to greet you.—Caroline Eubanks, Travel + Leisure, 25 Mar. 2024 In addition to looking for signs of a gopher, do a soil test and check your fertilizer.—Joan Morris, The Mercury News, 25 Mar. 2024 But that’s when the groundskeeper, played by Bill Murray, set off a series of explosives aimed at killing a course gopher.—Marlene Lenthang, NBC News, 18 Mar. 2024 Earlier this month, a Reddit user uploaded a video on the platform that showed a gopher pushing a ball out of a hole on a golf course.—Nicholas Rice, Peoplemag, 14 Jan. 2024 The trust removed poison from the course’s maintenance shed, along with poison and gopher traps throughout the site, Ms. Garrison said.—Cara Buckley, New York Times, 15 Feb. 2024 Tackle any repairs, add a fresh coat of protective stain, and install any necessary gopher wire beneath the soil line before transplanting late winter and spring seedings.—Kristin Guy, Sunset Magazine, 6 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gopher.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Share