From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgophergo‧pher /ˈɡəʊfə $ ˈɡoʊfər/ noun [countable] 1 HBAa North and Central American animal like a large rat that lives in holes in the ground2 (also Gopher) trademark a computer program that helps people find and use information quickly on the Internet
Examples from the Corpus
gopher• Gophers, rather: moles would be gophers here.• You can find it, along with a great many other political documents, at a gopher called Internet Wiretap.• The ramparts are also popular among gophers and ground squirrels, whose Byzantine burrows are often a key culprit in levee breaks.• For instance, many colleges, universities and government agencies store on-line information using a system called gopher.• There are dozens of gopher computers out there, full of valuable data and open to the public.• An adult owl will normally gobble about one gopher or two mice a night, experts say.• With gophers, he searches for small mounds.From Longman Business Dictionarygophergo‧pher /ˈgəʊfəˈgoʊfər/ (also GOPHER) noun [uncountable] COMPUTING a computer PROGRAM that quickly collects information from many different places across the InternetSignificant developments are taking place in the use of software, such as WAIS and GOPHER, to enable users to search multiple catalogues of holdings. → see also goferOrigin gopher (1700-1800) Perhaps from Canadian French gaufre “honeycomb” 