[Cf. G. wasserfinder.] One who finds subterranean springs or supplies of water by means of a divining-rod; a dowser.
1820. Raleigh Minerva, 8 Sept., 4/2. [He] overtook an old man on horseback, who professed to be a water-finder, or dewster, and well-digger.
1883. Phil Robinson, in Harper’s Mag., Oct., 708/2. He has added the more unusual profession of water-finder.
1902. Nature, 30 Jan., 304/2. The employment of a dowser or ‘water-finder’ is suggested.
So Water-finding vbl. sb. Also attrib.
1883. Phil Robinson, in Harper’s Mag., Oct., 708/2. I spent (I am half ashamed to say) many hours sauntering about with the water-finding fork in my hands.
1899. A. Lang, in Daily News, 10 July, 8/2. Hegel believed in the water-finding faculty.
1906. Times, 27 Sept., 7/4. During the winter of 1904–5 the subject of ‘water-finding’ and its methods gave rise to a prolonged correspondence in our columns.
