different between bowser vs dowser

English

Etymology

From Bowser (“a surname”), after Sylvanus Bowser, US inventor of the first fuel pump; also a trade name of SF Bowser inc., the inventor's company.

Pronunciation

Noun

bowser (plural bowsers)

1. (now chiefly Australia and New Zealand) A fuel metering/delivery pump at a filling station.
   • 2010, David Nichols, Green Fields, Brown Fields, New Fields, footnote citing 1926 report, page 309,

     The Moree Municipal Council decided to devote the revenue derived from the rent of the bowser petrol pumps within the municipality for this year, which amounted to forty guineas.

2. A road vehicle (often a trailer) for the transport of liquid fuel, particularly aviation fuel at an airfield.
   • 1962, The All England Law Reports, Volume 3, page 435,

     The bowsers then go out to the aircraft and supply them with petrol.
3. (Britain) A mobile water tank deployed to distribute fresh water in emergency situations where the normal system of piped distribution has broken down or is insufficient.
   • 1999 May 12, Kenya National Assembly Official Record (Hansard), page 588,

     Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as hon. Shidie has said, there is no water bowser in Garissa and he categorically said that there is a water bowser to supply water to the people of Kulan. Could he give the registration number of this water bowser which is supplying water to the people of Kulan?

   • 2010, P. Dissanayake, N. Weragala, V. Smakhtin, Environmental Flow Assessment: Recent Examples from Sri Lanka, Alexandra Evans, K. Jinapala (editors), Proceedings of the National Conference on Water, Food Security and Climate Change in Sri Lanka, Volume 2, page 29,

     Due to increasing levels of water pollution arising from low flows, water becomes unsuitable for bathing during this period and is satisfied by bowser water supply.

4. (Ireland, slang, used in the vocative) A buffoon or imbecile.

Translations

Anagrams

• Bowers, bowers, bowres, browse

English

Etymology

dowse +? -er

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?dæ?z?/
• Rhymes: -a?z?(r)

Noun

dowser (plural dowsers)

1. A divining rod used in searching for water, ore, etc.; a dowsing rod.

   Synonyms: divining rod, dowsing rod

   Coordinate term: doodlebug

2. One who uses the dowser or divining rod. A diviner.

   Synonyms: rhabdomantist, rhabdomancer, radiesthesist

   • 1996, Richard Webster, Dowsing for Beginners: The Art of Discovering Water, Treasure, Gold, Oil, Artifacts, Llewellyn Worldwide (?ISBN)

     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.

   • 2002, Michael Shermer, The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience, ABC-CLIO (?ISBN), page 93:

     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.

Translations

See also

• rhabdomancy

Further reading

• dowsing on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• dowser in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Dowers, Sowder, dowers, drowse, sworde, wordes, worsed