doodlebugger

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English doodlebug

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-os?

Proto-Indo-European *-o-

Proto-Indo-European *-so-

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂so-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂s(i)yós

Proto-Italic *-āsijos

Proto-Italic *-āsios

Latin -āriusnom.

Latin -āriusbor.

Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz

Proto-West Germanic *-ārī

Old English -ere

Middle English -ere

▲

Latin -ārius

Old French -ierbor.

Middle English -er

English -er

English doodlebugger

From doodlebug (“divining rod”) + -er.

Pronunciation

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Noun

doodlebugger (plural doodlebuggers)

1. (slang) A dowser searching for subterranean natural resources such as water or oil.
   • 1963, December 7, William Trombley, “The dowser who finds oil wells”, The Saturday Evening Post, issue 43, page 88:

     This was a "doodlebugger," a man who searches for oil with divining rods of wondrous shapes and descriptions. And not just any doodlebugger, but one of the hottest noses in the amateur oil-sniffing game – Walter J. Nelson.

2. (slang, by extension) A geophysicist working in the field to explore oil or other natural resources.