Other forms: warrens
A warren is a network of rabbit burrows, or a maze of passages. A rabbit warren, a warren of streets, the warren beneath.
The figurative use is common and usually mildly critical, since a warren of corridors is one nobody can navigate. A medieval warren was a protected place for keeping game, which is where the word begins.
1nounwarrenA network of rabbit burrows, or a maze of passages.
“The rabbits disappeared into their warren under the hedge when the dog came near.”
warren is a network.
Anglo-Norman warenne means a game park, probably from a Germanic word meaning to guard.
Proto-Germanic
*warjaną — ward off, defend against
Frankish
*warjan
Middle English
warenne
English, today
warren
Built from
From Middle English warenne, from Anglo-Norman - and fro-nor - warenne (compare Old French guarenne, garenne (“game-park”)), probably ultimately from Frankish warjan, from Proto-Germanic warjaną (“ward off, defend against”); compare also Old French warir, guarir, a borrowing from this Germanic root. Alternatively from cel-gau warrennā (“enclosed area”), from warros (“stick, post”), Proto-Celtic warrā (“post, prop”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire