Skip to main content
gofer

gofer

7 7.3
A person who does small jobs and gets things for others
  • noun
  • /ˈɡoʊfər/
  • Informal
translation icon : recadero
  • Stan applied for a job and was hired as a gofer to run errands for the team.
  • a gofer guy
  • gofer or assistant
  • gofer job

Examples

  • Although she worked as a lowly gofer at a TV station in Chicago where Wes was a newly hired roving reporter, the first time they saw each other was at her second job as hostess of an upscale steakhouse.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • Yet she was the gofer who got the drinks for the billionaire and his crew.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Working as a gofer on production crews?

    Fiction book (1991)
  • I'd chosen it over an offer to be a gofer boy for a firm of Republican lawyers.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • I'm a gofer at Sotheby's.

  • Bennie Redhair, who served as the chief's secretary and gofer, was sitting behind his desk looking very, very nervous.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • In some instances, teaching assistants will find "teaching" is actually researching for the professor or being a general "gofer."

    Academic text (1991)
  • Lisa Gorman, one of the partners, is at her desk sorting envelopes and talking quietly to her gofer, Beth Bamforth.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • After some discussion, Marla postponed graduate school and went to work as a paralegal in downtown Minneapolis, which seemed fine at first but in the end amounted to little more than a poorly paid, coffee-fetching gofer ship.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • She needed to hire a new gofer—the school year had started, and she no longer had a fifteen-year-old to depend on—to scour the various markets she worked in, search of old men selling used golf balls.

    Fiction book (1999)

Synonyms

flunky
vsgofer
  • Offensive
16 8.0

A person who runs small errands and obeys a boss

is a task-focused role without the strong servile attitude implied here
waterboy
vsgofer
  • Offensive
7 7.3

A person who does small, unimportant jobs for other people

is a neutral job for errands without implying low status or servility
odd-job man
vsgofer
  • UK
1 3.9

A man who does small repair jobs around the home

focuses on simple errands and office chores rather than repair tasks
pageboy
vsgofer
  • Archaic
7.0

A young boy who runs small errands in a hotel or house

is used more broadly for adult office errand running rather than youthful hotel service
swamper
vsgofer
  • Jargon
8.3

A person who does basic physical work to help others, like cleaning or lifting

focuses specifically on running errands and minor office tasks

How Responsible

manager
1.6
assistant
833 1.0
gofer
  • Informal
7 7.3
office boy
  • Archaic
1 2.6

Surface Forms

gofer singular
gofers plural

Etymology

Gofer comes from the phrase go for, which means 'to go and get something', so a gofer is someone sent to fetch things or do small tasks in an office. A helpful way to remember it is to imagine a busy little gopher that runs around getting things for people.