the lair or shelter of a wild animal, esp. a predatory mammal.
2.
a room, often secluded, in a house or apartment, designed to provide a quiet, comfortable, and informal atmosphere for conversation, reading, writing, etc.
3.
a cave used as a place of shelter or concealment.
4.
a squalid or vile abode or place: dens of misery.
5.
one of the units of a cub scout pack, analogous to a patrol in the Boy Scouts.
–verb (used with object)
6.
to drive or pursue (an animal) into its den.
7.
to kill (an animal) inside its den.
–verb (used without object)
8.
to live in or as if in a den.
[Origin: bef. 1000; ME; OE denn; cf. early D denne floor, cave, den, G Tenne floor]
Den\, n. [AS. denn; perh. akin to G. tenne floor, thrashing floor, and to AS. denu valley.]1. A small cavern or hollow place in the side of a hill, or among rocks; esp., a cave used by a wild beast for shelter or concealment; as, a lion's den; a den of robbers. 2. A squalid place of resort; a wretched dwelling place; a haunt; as, a den of vice. "Those squalid dens, which are the reproach of great capitals." --Addison. 3. Any snug or close retreat where one goes to be alone. [Colloq.] 4. [AS. denu.] A narrow glen; a ravine; a dell. [Old Eng. & Scotch] --Shak.
a lair of wild beasts (Ps. 10:9; 104:22; Job 37:8); the hole of a venomous reptile (Isa. 11:8); a recess for secrecy "in dens and caves of the earth" (Heb. 11:38); a resort of thieves (Matt. 21:13; Mark 11:17). Daniel was cast into "the den of lions" (Dan. 6:16, 17). Some recent discoveries among the ruins of Babylon have brought to light the fact that the practice of punishing offenders against the law by throwing them into a den of lions was common.
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