dowse

1. 1.

   wet thoroughly

   Synonymsdouse

   Broaderwet
2. 2.

   use a divining rod in search of underground water or metal

   Broaderdivine
3. 3.

   slacken

   “douse a rope”

   Synonymsdouse

   Broaderslacken
4. 4.

   cover with liquid; pour liquid onto

   “souse water on his hot face”

   Synonymsdrenchdousesoaksopsouse

   Broaderwet

   Narrowerbrinebedragglebateretsluice

1. 1.

   searching for underground water or minerals by using a dowsing rod

   Synonymsdowsingrhabdomancy

   Broaderdivination

Other forms of dowse

plural

dowses·

past tense

dowsed·

present participle

dowsing·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about dowse

What does dowse mean?

dowse means "wet thoroughly". That is the primary sense; the word has 5 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in dowse?

dowse has 1 syllable: dowse. In IPA it is /ˈdaʊs/.

What is another word for dowse?

Close synonyms include douse, douse, drench, douse, soak. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is dowse a common word?

dowse is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with dowse?

1 word rhymes with dowse. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.