different between wowser vs dowser
wowser
English
Etymology 1
From UK dialect. In the pro-temperance sense, Australian from early 1900s.
John Norton, an early enemy of wowsers (temperance sense), claimed it to be an acronym for "We Only Want Social Evils Remedied", but that is likely a folk etymology.
A story has it that gospellers in the streets of Clunes, Victoria in the 1870s were called rousers but one of the town councillors had a speech impediment and couldn't pronounce his "R"s, thus giving wowser. (Reference: Bill Wannan, Australian Folklore, Lansdowne Press, 1970, reprint 1979 ?ISBN, under "Wowser", page 568.)
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?wa?z?(?)/
- Rhymes: -a?z?(?)
Noun
wowser (plural wowsers)
- (obsolete) A lout or similar disruptive person.
- (Australia, New Zealand, derogatory) One with strong moral views against excessive consumption of alcohol, gambling, pornography, etc., who seeks to promulgate those views.
- 1950, Neville Shute, A Town Like Alice, London: The Reprint Society, 1952, Chapter 9, p. 259,[1]
- “I’d like to come with you one day up to the top end,” she said. “I suppose it’ll have to be after we’re married.”
- He grinned. “Plenty of wowsers back in Willstown to talk about it, if you came before.”
- 1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, Virago Press, paperback edition, page 65
- As for the rest, the pay is not bad, coming as it does from the pockets of the three local warlords who hired me: two graziers, one of whom is also a terrible wowser (everyone calls him 'Mr Prophet', though I call him - privately, of course - Mr Brimstone, or Old Blood-and-Thunderguts); the third is the owner of the pub.
- 1999, Anna E. Blainey, The prohibition and total abstinence movement in Australia, 1880 - 1910, Robert Dare (editor), Food, Power and Community, page 142,
- When they have paid attention to temperance advocates they have tended to dismiss them as ‘wowsers’ or ‘puritans’ intent on suppressing pleasure.
- 2010, Robert Cettl, Offensive to a Reasonable Adult: Film Censorship and Classification in 'Secular' Australia, page 43,
- Quite simply, to a wowser, adults should not be allowed to see, hear and read as they wished, but should only be allowed to see hear and read that which fully conforms to Australia's Christian heritage […] .
- 1950, Neville Shute, A Town Like Alice, London: The Reprint Society, 1952, Chapter 9, p. 259,[1]
Synonyms
- (one who promotes abstinence, etc.): killjoy, moral crusader, party pooper, prude, spoilsport
See also
- straight edge
Related terms
- wowserism
Etymology 2
From wow, with the "-ser" added to provide emphasis
Noun
wowser (plural wowsers)
- Alternative form of wowzer
Interjection
wowser
- Alternative form of wowsers
References
- Australian National Dictionary Centre: Home » Australian words » Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms » W
wowser From the web:
- wowser meaning
- what does wowzers mean
- what does wowser mean in australia
- what does wowser mean in texting
- what does wowzers stand for
- what is wowser slang for
- what does wowzers in my trousers mean
- what is wowsers in spanish
dowser
English
Etymology
dowse +? -er
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?dæ?z?/
- Rhymes: -a?z?(r)
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
- 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
dowser From the web:
- dowser meaning
- what does dosser mean
- what is dowser.exe
- what do downers do
- what is dowser work
- what is a dowser
- what do dowsers make
- what is a dowser healer
Share
Tweet
+1
Share
Pin
Like
Send
Share
you may also like
- wowser vs dowser
- wowser vs bowser
- wowserism vs wowser
- lout vs wowser
- impose vs wowser
- abstinence vs wowser
- metricize vs metricise
- metricize vs metricized
- metrification vs metricize
- metrify vs metricize
- metricization vs metricize
- meter vs metricize
- metrics vs metricize
- metric vs metricize
- metricize vs metricate
- metricise vs metricised
- metricized vs metricised
- metricizes vs metricized
- metrification vs versification
- petrification vs metrification