Other forms: burrows, burrowing, burrowed
A burrow is the hole an animal digs to live in — a rabbit's, a badger's, a mole's. A dark opening in a bank of earth, a heap of fresh soil beside it, tunnels running further back than you would guess.
The verb does the digging: rabbits burrow under fences, a puppy burrows into the blankets, and you burrow through a drawer looking for the spare key. It takes prepositions naturally — burrow into, burrow under, burrow through — and works for anything pushing its way into something dense. A rabbit's whole connected system of burrows is a warren. Careful with three lookalikes: you burrow a tunnel, you borrow a book, and a burro is a small donkey.
1nounburrowA hole or tunnel dug in the ground by a small animal to live in.
“The field was pitted with rabbit burrows.”
2verbdigTo dig a hole or tunnel in the ground.
“Worms burrow deeper when the soil dries out.”
3verbpushTo push your way into something soft, warm or crowded.
“He burrowed into his coat and waited for the bus.”
4verbrummageTo search through something thoroughly.
“She burrowed through the files until she found the contract.”
synonyms: rummage, delve
burrow is an animal's underground home.
A rabbit's burrow and a town's borough are the same word. Middle English borowe, a lair or refuge for an animal, is a variant of burgh, a fortified dwelling or stronghold, from Old English burh and Proto-Germanic *burgz, a stronghold or city, from a root meaning high. Which makes the hole under the hedge a rabbit's fortress — the smallest walled town in the field.
Proto-Indo-European
*bʰergʰ-
Proto-Indo-European
*bʰerǵʰ- — high
Proto-Germanic
*burgz — stronghold, city
Proto-West Germanic
*burg
Old English
burh
Middle English
borowe
English, today
burrow
Built from
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-West Germanic burg, from Proto-Germanic burgz (“stronghold, city”), from Proto-Indo-European bʰerǵʰ- (“high”), but this sense is not known in 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”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA