burrow

[bur-oh, buhr-oh]

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noun

a hole or tunnel in the ground made by a rabbit, fox, or similar animal for habitation and refuge.

a place of retreat; shelter or refuge.

verb (used without object)

to make a hole or passage in, into, or under something.

to lodge in a burrow.

to hide.

to proceed by or as if by digging.

verb (used with object)

to put a burrow into (a hill, mountainside, etc.).

to hide (oneself), as in a burrow.

to make by or as if by burrowing: We burrowed our way through the crowd.

Origin of burrow

1325–75; Middle English borow, earlier burh, apparently gradational variant of late Middle English beri burrow, variant of earlier berg refuge, Old English gebeorg, derivative of beorgan to protect; akin to Old English burgen grave, i.e., place of protection for a body; see bury

Related formsbur·row·er, nounun·bur·rowed, adjective

Can be confusedborough burro burrow

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for burrow

delve, lair, tunnel, couch, shelter, den, hovel, retreat, excavate, undermine

Examples from the Web for burrow

Contemporary Examples of burrow

If opened, the RAT will burrow into the host computer and give control of the machine to the hacker.
15-Year-Old Egyptian Cyber Activist Takes on Israel
Eli Lake
November 21, 2012
You start with pain, burrow into dirt, get to memory, and end with motive.
Who Is Philip Roth’s Portnoy Satirizing?
Bernard Avishai
August 28, 2012
This is not a bug that can get on the surface and burrow in.
Necrotizing Fasciitis: How ‘Flesh-Eating Bacteria’ Strike
Casey Schwartz
May 14, 2012

Historical Examples of burrow

They then began to make holes through them, and to burrow underneath.
The Story of the Malakand Field Force
Sir Winston S. Churchill
When they want to hide, they burrow under one of these rookeries.
The Underdog
F. Hopkinson Smith
They burrow underneath the surface, you know, and one never sees them.
Good Indian
B. M. Bower
I'm a contemptible thing that runs to its burrow when it hears of danger.
Changing Winds
St. John G. Ervine
To pray for your bread or to burrow in the earth for it, is it not the same with most people?
The Book of Khalid
Ameen Rihani

British Dictionary definitions for burrow

burrow

noun

a hole or tunnel dug in the ground by a rabbit, fox, or other small animal, for habitation or shelter

a small snug place affording shelter or retreat

verb

to dig (a burrow) in, through, or under (ground)

(intr often foll by through) to move through by or as by diggingto burrow through the forest

(intr) to hide or live in a burrow

(intr) to delve deeplyhe burrowed into his pockets

to hide (oneself)

Derived Formsburrower, noun

Word Origin for burrow

C13: probably a variant of borough

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for burrow

"rabbit-hole, fox-hole, etc.," c.1300, borewe, from Old English burgh "stronghold, fortress" (see borough); influenced by bergh "hill," and berwen "to defend, take refuge."

c.1600, "to place in a burrow, from burrow (n.). Figuratively (e.g. to burrow (one's) head) by 1862. Intransitive sense, "to bore one's way into, penetrate" is from 1610s, originally figurative (literal sense, of animals, attested by 1771). Related: Burrowed; borrowing.