rabbit hole
English
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Etymology
Extended senses reference Alice in Wonderland, where Alice travels down a rabbit hole into a bizarre world.
Noun
rabbit hole (plural rabbit holes)
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see rabbit, hole. (The entrance to) a rabbit warren or burrow.
- 1866, Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland[1]:
- The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down what seemed to be a very deep well. Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her, and to wonder what was going to happen next.
- (usually with "the") A bizarre world, where everyday rules do not apply, or a way into such a world.
- These mushrooms will take you down the rabbit hole, man.
- 1999, The Wachowskis, 0:29:05 from the start, in The Matrix, spoken by Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne):
- You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
- A time-consuming tangent or detour, often from which it is difficult to extricate oneself.
- 2017, Judith Aston, Sandra Gaudenzi, Mandy Rose, I-Docs: The Evolving Practices of Interactive Documentary (→ISBN):
- My point is not to go down the rabbit hole of deconstructing the term documentary, [...]
- 2017, Judith Aston, Sandra Gaudenzi, Mandy Rose, I-Docs: The Evolving Practices of Interactive Documentary (→ISBN):
Synonyms
- (way into a bizarre world): looking glass
Translations
(entrance to) a rabbit warren or burrow
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