MEANING
1. To seek water, minerals, or other hidden things using a rod or pendulum believed to respond to their presence.
2. To drench with liquid or put out a flame, in a variant spelling of douse.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- dowse for water
- a dowsing rod
On the page
He dowsed for water while she recorded where the rod moved.
The villagers asked her to dowse near the abandoned well before bringing the surveyors.
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- dowse
- Past tense
- dowsed
- Past participle
- dowsed
- Present participle
- dowsing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- dowse
- Present continuous
- am/is/are dowsing
- Present perfect
- have/has dowsed
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been dowsing
- Past
- dowsed
- Past continuous
- was/were dowsing
- Past perfect
- had dowsed
- Past perfect continuous
- had been dowsing
- Future
- will dowse
- Future continuous
- will be dowsing
- Future perfect
- will have dowsed
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been dowsing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Explore related collections
Usage notes
Primary category: horror. Forms: dowse; dowses; dowsed; dowsed; dowsing Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: dowses.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
Keep a thought for later. Sign in to save privately.