Meanings
noundoodlebugger (plural doodlebuggers)
plural doodlebuggers
- slangA dowser searching for subterranean natural resources such as water or oil.
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.
1963, December 7, William Trombley, “The dowser who finds oil wells”, The Saturday Evening Post, issue 43, page 88 - broadlyslangA geophysicist working in the field to explore oil or other natural resources.
Origin
From doodlebug (“divining rod”) + -er.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
doodlebugger. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/doodlebugger
MLA
“doodlebugger.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/doodlebugger. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “doodlebugger,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/doodlebugger.
Source: doodlebugger on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.