Gophering

[goh-fer] /ˈgoʊ fər/

noun
1.
any of several ground squirrels of the genus Citellus, of the prairie regions of North America.
2.
.
3.
.
4.
.
5.
(initial capital letter) a native or inhabitant of Minnesota (used as a nickname).
6.
(initial capital letter) Computers.

verb (used without object)
7.
Mining.

/ˈɡəʊfə/
noun
1.
Also called pocket gopher. any burrowing rodent of the family Geomyidae, of North and Central America, having a thickset body, short legs, and cheek pouches
2.
another name for ground squirrel
3.
any burrowing tortoise of the genus Gopherus, of SE North America
4.
gopher snake, another name for bull snake
n.

1812, American English, perhaps an Englishing of Louisiana French gaufre “honeycomb, waffle,” said to have been used by French settlers in reference to small mammals on analogy of the structure of their burrows, from Old French gaufre, of Frankish origin. The rodent was the nickname of people from Arkansas (1845) and later Minnesota (1872). The gopherwood tree of the Bible (used by Noah to make the ark, Gen. vi:14) is unrelated; it is from Hebrew gofer, perhaps meaning the cypress.

noun

verb

To hit a GOFER BALL in baseball: only about the fifth or sixth that Orosco had gophered home the eventual gamer

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.