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Webster 1913 Edition

Burrow

Bur′row

,
Noun.
[See 1st
Borough
.]
1.
An incorporated town. See 1st
Borough
.
2.
A shelter; esp. a hole in the ground made by certain animals, as rabbits, for shelter and habitation.
3.
(Mining)
A heap or heaps of rubbish or refuse.
4.
A mound. See 3d
Barrow
, and
Camp
,
Noun.
, 5.

Bur′row

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Burrowed
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Burrowing
.]
1.
To excavate a hole to lodge in, as in the earth; to lodge in a hole excavated in the earth, as conies or rabbits.
2.
To lodge, or take refuge, in any deep or concealed place; to hide.
Sir, this vermin of court reporters, when they are forced into day upon one point, are sure to
burrow
in another.
Burke.
Burrowing owl
(Zool.)
,
a small owl of the western part of North America (
Speotyto cunicularia
), which lives in holes, often in company with the prairie dog.

Webster 1828 Edition

Burrow

BUR'ROW

,
Noun.
A different orthography of burgh, borough, which see.

BUR'ROW

,
Noun.
A hollow place in the earth or in a warren, where small animals lodge, and sometimes deposit their provisions. Some animals excavate the earth, by scratching, and form these lodges.

BUR'ROW

,
Verb.
I.
To lodge in a hole excavated in the earth, as coneys or rabbits. In a more general sense, to lodge in any deep or concealed place. The word seems to include the idea of excavating a hole for a lodge, as well as lodging in it; but the verb is not often used transitively, as to burrow the earth.

Definition 2024

burrow

burrow

English

Noun

burrow ‎(plural burrows)

  1. A tunnel or hole, often as dug by a small creature.
    • 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit
      But very soon he grew to like it, for the Boy used to talk to him, and made nice tunnels for him under the bedclothes that he said were like the burrows the real rabbits lived in.
  2. (mining) A heap or heaps of rubbish or refuse.
  3. Obsolete form of barrow. A mound.
  4. Obsolete form of borough. An incorporated town.

Translations

Verb

burrow ‎(third-person singular simple present burrows, present participle burrowing, simple past and past participle burrowed)

  1. To dig a tunnel or hole.

Translations

Etymology

Origin Unknown. Formally, it appears to be a variant of borough and thus from Old English burh, from Proto-Germanic *burgz ‎(“stronghold, city”) from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- ‎(“[fortified] elevation”), but this sense is not known in Old English burh or in any Germanic cognate languages.
It may be related to bergh and bury ("to dig"), in which case it would be derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰergʰ- ‎(“to protect, defend, save, preserve”).

Pronunciation

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