a hole or tunnel in the ground made by a rabbit, fox, or similar animal for habitation and refuge.
2.
a place of retreat; shelter or refuge.
–verb (used without object)
3.
to make a hole or passage in, into, or under something.
4.
to lodge in a burrow.
5.
to hide.
6.
to proceed by or as if by digging.
–verb (used with object)
7.
to put a burrow into (a hill, mountainside, etc.).
8.
to hide (oneself), as in a burrow.
9.
to make by or as if by burrowing: We burrowed our way through the crowd.
[Origin: 1325–75; ME borow, earlier burh, appar. gradational var. of late ME beri burrow, var. of earlier berg refuge, OE gebeorg, deriv. of beorgan to protect; akin to OE burgen grave, i.e., place of protection for a body; see bury]
"rabbit-hole, fox-hole, etc.," c.1360, from O.E. burgh "stronghold, fortress" (see borough); influenced by bergh "hill," and berwen "to defend, take refuge." The verb is first attested 1771.
Bor"ough\, n. [OE. burgh, burw, boru, port, town, burrow, AS. burh, burg; akin to Icel., Sw., & Dan. borg, OS. & D. burg, OHG. puruc, purc, MHG. burc, G. burg, Goth. ba['u]rgs; and from the root of AS. beorgan to hide, save, defend, G. bergen; or perh. from that of AS. beorg hill, mountain. [root]95. See Bury, v. t., and cf. Burrow, Burg, Bury, n., Burgess, Iceberg, Borrow, Harbor, Hauberk.]1. In England, an incorporated town that is not a city; also, a town that sends members to parliament; in Scotland, a body corporate, consisting of the inhabitants of a certain district, erected by the sovereign, with a certain jurisdiction; in America, an incorporated town or village, as in Pennsylvania and Connecticut. --Burrill. Erskine. 2. The collective body of citizens or inhabitants of a borough; as, the borough voted to lay a tax. Close borough, or Pocket borough, a borough having the right of sending a member to Parliament, whose nomination is in the hands of a single person. Rotten borough, a name given to any borough which, at the time of the passage of the Reform Bill of 1832, contained but few voters, yet retained the privilege of sending a member to Parliament.
Bur"row\, n. [See 1st Borough.]1. An incorporated town. See 1st Borough. 2. A shelter; esp. a hole in the ground made by certain animals, as rabbits, for shelter and habitation. 3. (Mining) A heap or heaps of rubbish or refuse. 4. A mound. See 3d Barrow, and Camp, n., 5.
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