Doodlebugger
noun, slang
noun, slang ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A dowser searching for subterranean natural resources such as water or oil. slang
"This was a "doodlebugger," a man who searches for oil with divining rods of wondrous shapes and descriptions. And not just any doodlebugger, but one of the hottest noses in the amateur oil-sniffing game – Walter J. Nelson."
- 2 A geophysicist working in the field to explore oil or other natural resources. broadly, slang
Example
More examples"This was a "doodlebugger," a man who searches for oil with divining rods of wondrous shapes and descriptions. And not just any doodlebugger, but one of the hottest noses in the amateur oil-sniffing game – Walter J. Nelson."
Etymology
From doodlebug (“divining rod”) + -er.
More for "doodlebugger"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.