burrow

burrow

See also: Burrow

English

Etymology

From Middle English borowe, borewe, borwȝ, burȝe, burh, burye (“refuge for an animal, lair, burrow”), apparently a variant of Middle English burgh (“fortified dwelling, stronghold, refuge”) (see borough) and thus from Old English burh, from Proto-Germanic *burgz (“stronghold, city”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“high”), but this sense is not known in Old English burh. Compare, however, Dutch cognate burcht, which has a similar sense.

It may be related to bury (“to dig”), in which case it would be derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰergʰ- (“to protect, defend, save, preserve”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌɹəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌɹoʊ/

  Audio (US)

  (file)

  (accents without the "Hurry-furry" merger)
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbɜɹoʊ/

  Audio (US)

  (file)

  (accents with the "Hurry-furry" merger)
• Rhymes: -ʌɹəʊ
• Homophone: borough (one pronunciation)

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.

Derived terms

• burrow duck

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for burrow in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)

Translations

a tunnel or hole

Arabic: جُحْر‎ m (juḥr), سَرَب‎ m (sarab), دَوْلَج‎ m (dawlaj) Armenian: please add this translation if you can Belarusian: нара́ f (nará) Bulgarian: ду́пка (bg) f (dúpka), ду́пка в земя́та f (dúpka v zemjáta) (на животно) Burmese: please add this translation if you can Catalan: cau (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 地洞 (zh) (dìdòng) Czech: nora (cs) f Danish: jordhule c Dutch: hol (nl), burcht (nl) m or f Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Finnish: kolo (fi) French: terrier (fr) m, clapier (fr) m (rabbit burrow) Galician: tobo (gl) m, toco (gl) m, muraqueira f, caustra f, paleira (gl) f, manida f, latebra f Georgian: სორო (soro) German: Bau (de) m Greek: Ancient: φωλεός m (phōleós) Hebrew: חור‎ (he) m (khor), מחילה‎ (he) f (mekhilá), מאורה‎ f (meurá) Hungarian: lyuk (hu), járat (hu) Irish: uachais f, poll m Italian: tana (it) f, buca (it) f, covo (it) m, cunicolo (it) m Japanese: 穴 (ja) (あな, ana), 巣穴 (すあな, suana) Kazakh: ін (kk) (ın) Khakas: ін (ìn) Khmer: please add this translation if you can Korean: 굴 (ko) (gul), 소굴 (ko) (sogul) Latin: hola f Latvian: please add this translation if you can Lithuanian: urvas m, ola (lt) f Macedonian: дупка f (dupka), дупка в земјата f (dupka v zemjata) Maltese: please add this translation if you can Manx: towl m Maori: rua (mi), unu (mi), tūrua Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Ojibwe: waazh, waanzh Persian: please add this translation if you can Polish: jama (pl) f, nora (pl) f, tunel (pl) m Portuguese: túnel (pt), toca (pt) Romanian: vizuină (ro) f Russian: нора́ (ru) f (norá) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: јазбина f Roman: jazbina (sh) f Slovak: nora f Slovene: jazbina f Spanish: madriguera (es) f, ratonera f (mouse burrow) Swedish: gryt (sv) n, jordkula (sv) c, håla (sv) c Tagalog: lungga (tl) Thai: รู (th) (ruu) Tibetan: ས་འོག་ཚ་ཁུང (sa 'og tsha khung) Turkish: in (tr) Ukrainian: нора́ (uk) f (norá) Vietnamese: hang (vi) (𥧎) Welsh: twll (cy) m

Verb

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

1. (intransitive) to dig a tunnel or hole
2. (intransitive) (with adverbial of direction) to move underneath or press up against in search of safety or comfort

   The young girl burrowed into the bed.

3. (intransitive) (with into) to investigate thoroughly

   The journalist burrowed into the origins of the mayor's corruption.

Derived terms

• burrowing bug
• burrowing owl
• burrowing parrot
• giant burrowing cockroach

 

Translations

to dig a hole

Bulgarian: ровя (bg) (rovja), изравям (bg) (izravjam) Dutch: graven (nl),wroeten (nl) Estonian: tuhnima Finnish: kaivaa (fi) German: graben (de) Italian: scavare una tana Lithuanian: kasti (lt) Maori: apu Polish: kopać (pl) Portuguese: cavar (pt) Spanish: socavar (es), cavar (es)