dowsing rod
2
9.8
- noun
- /ˈdaʊzɪŋ rɒd/
:
vara de zahorí
- After searching for hours, she finally used her dowsing rod and discovered a hidden stream.
It was dowsers, it was dowsing rods, it was pendulum work.
- It was dowsers, it was dowsing rods, it was pendulum work.
Examples
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It was dowsers, it was dowsing rods, it was pendulum work.
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Using his dowsing rod, he was able to locate water buried deep beneath the ground.
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I got me a dowsing rod out there.
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- It's a dowsing rod!
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No, it is a claim that one can locate water using a dowsing rod.
Blog text (27) -
A claim that one can locate water using a dowsing rod is a supernatural claim.
Blog text (27) -
It just looked like a fancy dowsing rod to me, but what do I know?
Fiction book (1999) -
A claim that one can locate water using a dowsing rod is a supernatural claim, and yet science is more than adequate to reject said claim.
Blog text (27) -
In spring, Old Abe carried him like a sack of feed corn while Ike's forked dowsing rod jumped and quivered.
Fiction book (1990) -
The ancient practice of finding water with a dowsing rod still intrigues many people today.
Synonyms
2
8.6
A forked stick that people hold to find underground water
1
9.9
A stick with two branches used to find water or minerals underground
A forked stick people use to find water or oil underground
A forked stick used to find underground water or oil by dipping down
How Accurate
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is directly compositional: 'dowsing' names the practice of locating underground substances and 'rod' names a tool, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer it is a rod used for dowsing. This follows a common noun+noun instrument pattern ("X rod" = a rod for X) and is therefore transparent despite 'dowsing' being somewhat specialized vocabulary.
Etymology
Dowsing rod comes from a simple image: a person holds a forked stick, a rod, and walks over the ground. One popular story says the stick would point or dip when it passed over underground water, so a dowsing rod is used to try to 'find water' or hidden minerals today.