burrow
English
Etymology
Lua error: The template Template:PIE root does not use the parameter(s):2=bʰerǵʰPlease see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.Lua error: The template Template:PIE root does not use the parameter(s):
2=bʰergʰPlease see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.
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- (“high”). but this sense is not known in Old English burh. Compare, however, Dutch cognate Dutch burcht, which does have a similar sense.
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
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈbʌɹəʊ/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈbʌɹoʊ/
(accents without the "Hurry-furry" merger)Audio (US) (file) - Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈbɜɹoʊ/
(accents with the "Hurry-furry" merger)Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ʌrəʊ
- Homophone: borough (one pronunciation)
Noun
burrow (plural burrows)
- 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.
- 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit
- (mining) A heap or heaps of rubbish or refuse.
- Obsolete form of barrow. A mound.
- Obsolete form of borough. An incorporated town.
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 The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.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, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)
Translations
|
Verb
burrow (third-person singular simple present burrows, present participle burrowing, simple past and past participle burrowed)
- (intransitive) To dig a tunnel or hole.
Translations
- English terms with unknown etymologies
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ʌrəʊ
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Mining
- English obsolete forms
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- en:Animal dwellings