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Glite Dictionary
💦 To soak 🔎 To search underground
to dowse

to dowse

9.9
To try to find water underground with a forked stick or rod
  • verb
  • /daʊs/
translation icon : buscar agua
  • The farmer used a divining rod to dowse for water on his land.

Examples

  • She claims she can dowse metals buried underground with her special rod.

  • The old man dowsed with a forked stick.

  • He hired someone to dowse a suitable spot for drilling a well.

  • Local farmers still dowse for water in this part of the country.

  • He dowses for water in the dry fields.

  • He learned to dowse for minerals in his geology class last semester.

  • Using her skills, she was able to dowse and find a lost underground spring.

Surface Forms

dowse infinitive
dowsed past
dowsed past participle
dowsing present participle
dowses third person singular

Etymology

Dowse also means to search for underground water with a rod, and one idea is that this sense grew from older words meaning 'to lower' or 'dip'. Imagine lowering a stick that suddenly 'dips' when it is over water; that's why to dowse is to try to find water below the ground.