''dowser'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''dowser'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260901111111-00-⌔

dowser - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Noun

dowser (plural dowsers)

• A divining rod used in searching for water, ore, etc.; a dowsing rod.
  • ✤ Synonyms: divining rod, dowsing rod
  • ✤ Coordinate term: doodlebug
• One who uses the dowser or divining rod. A diviner.
  • ✤ Synonyms: rhabdomantist, rhabdomancer, radiesthesist, water diviner, waterfinder
  • ✤ Interestingly enough, John Mullins, the celebrated English dowser, was able to do this experiment using a forked twig, rather than a pendulum. He claimed to be able to locate nothing but water with his dowsing rod.¹
  • ✤ The instrument a dowser uses is called a dowsing rod, dowsing stick, doodlebug (when used to locate oil), or divining rod. Almost any item can be used for this purpose: a birch twig, a whalebone, and even a hanger.²
  • ✤ Google Cayce and you will find “coolhunter,” and if you look closely you may see it suggested that she is a “sensitive” of some kind, a dowser in the world of global marketing.³

Etymology

From dowse + -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈdaʊzə/
• Rhymes: -aʊzə(ɹ)

Printed 2026-09-01.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

1. 1996, Richard Webster, Dowsing for Beginners: The Art of Discovering Water, Treasure, Gold, Oil, Artifacts, Llewellyn Worldwide, →ISBN: ↩

2. 2002, Michael Shermer, The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 93: ↩

3. 2003, William Gibson, Pattern Recognition (Bigend cycle; book 1), New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →ISBN, page 2: ↩

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