bowser
/bˈoʊzɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.03 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A road vehicle (often a trailer) for the transport of liquid fuel, particularly aviation fuel at an airfield.
noun
A mobile water tank deployed to distribute fresh water in emergency situations where the normal system of piped distribution has broken down or is insufficient.
British usage
name
A surname.
name
A traditional name for a pet dog.
Example Sentences
- "In those days bowsers were unknown and it was a case of buying a tine where you could."
- "‘Kids are breaking into the service station bowsers at night, draining out the dregs of petrol from the bowser hoses, wandering the streets sniffing petrol from Coke bottles all night,’ he said[…]."
- "I needed at least fifteen litres more petrol in my tank to reach the next major settlement and, unlike China, there were no shiny new gas stations here with bowsers of different types of petrol to choose from, nor were there pretty young gas girls in nice uniforms ready to fill ‘er up – in fact there were no gas stations here at all; petrol was bought and sold strictly off market in private transactions."
- "2010, David Nichols, Green Fields, Brown Fields, New Fields, footnote citing 1926 report, page 309, The Moree Municipal Council decided to devote the revenue derived from the rent of the bowser petrol pumps within the municipality for this year, which amounted to forty guineas."
- "The bowsers then go out to the aircraft and supply them with petrol."
- "By the time No 43 Sqn was given permission to land it was quite dark, and so to assist the pilots in what were to be difficult night landings two petrol bowsers were parked to ‘illuminate’ the runway with their dim blackout headlights. Perhaps, all things considered, the use of petrol bowsers for this particular task was not exactly wise."
Etymology
Word Breakdown
Usage
- Australian usage
- New Zealand usage
- British usage
- Slang
Inflected Forms
bowsers (plural)
bowzer (alternative, dated)
Frequently Paired Words
bowsered
bowzered
Synonyms
petrol bowser
petrol pump