burrow
American Heritage Dictionary:
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bur·row
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summer burrow of a woodchuck A. entrance B. spy hole C. excrement chamber D. nest (Rolin Graphics) |
n.
- A hole or tunnel dug in the ground by a small animal, such as a rabbit or mole, for habitation or refuge.
- A narrow or snug place.
v., -rowed, -row·ing, -rows. v.intr.
- To dig a hole or tunnel for habitation or refuge.
- To live or hide in such a place.
- To move or progress by or as if by digging or tunneling: "Suddenly the train is burrowing through the pinewoods" (William Styron).
- To make by or as if by tunneling.
- To dig a hole or tunnel in or through.
- Archaic. To hide in or as if in a burrow.
[Middle English borow.]
burrower bur'row·er n.Roget's Thesaurus:
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burrow
Word Tutor:
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burrow
IN BRIEF: A hole dug underground by a fox or rabbit. To dig an underground hole.
Peter Rabbit hid in his warm burrow to escape Farmer MacGregor.
Tutor's tip: The "borough" (town) had to "borrow" (receive a loan) a "burro" (donkey) to carry the soil away from the opening of the "burrow" (lair or den).
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See crossword solutions for the clue Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Burrow
For other uses, see Burrow (disambiguation).
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A burrow is a hole or tunnel dug into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of shelter against predation and exposure to the elements, so the burrowing way of life is quite popular among the animals. Burrows are also commonly preserved in the fossil record as a type of trace fossil.
Examples
Examples of burrowing animals include a number of mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and birds (including small dinosaurs[1]), as well as numerous invertebrates including insects, spiders, sea urchins, crustaceans, clams and worms.
A wide variety of animals construct or use burrows in many different types of substrate. Mammals are perhaps most well-known for burrowing, especially Insectivora like the voracious mole, and rodents like the prolific gopher and groundhog. The rabbit, a member of the family Lagomorpha, is a well-known burrower. There are estimations that a single groundhog burrow occupies a full cubic metre, displacing 320 kilograms of dirt. Even Carnivora like the meerkat, and marsupials, are burrowers. The largest burrowing animal is probably the polar bear when it makes its maternity den in snow or earth.
Burrows by birds are usually made in soft soils; some penguins and other pelagic seabirds are noted for such burrows. The Magellanic Penguin is an example of such a burrow constructor, making burrows along coastal Patagonian regions of Chile and Argentina.[2] Other burrowing birds are puffins, kingfishers, and bee-eaters.
Burrows can be constructed into a wide variety of substrates. Kangaroo mice construct burrows in fine sand. Scabies mites construct their burrows in the skin of the infested animal or human. Termites construct burrows in wood. Some sea urchins and clams can burrow into rock. Burrows can also range in complexity from a simple tube a few centimetres long to a complex network of interconnecting tunnels and chambers hundreds or thousands of metres in total length, such as a well-developed rabbit warren.
See also
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Burrows |
References
- ^ Varricchio, David J.; Martin, Anthony J.; and Katsura, Yoshihiro (2007). "First trace and body fossil evidence of a burrowing, denning dinosaur". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 274 (1616): 1361–1368. doi:10.1098/rspb.2006.0443. PMC 2176205. PMID 17374596. http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/uj1k12wh01587821/fulltext.pdf. Retrieved 2007-03-22.
- ^ C. Michael Hogan, (2008) Magellanic penguin, Globaltwitcher.com, ed. Nicklas Stromberg
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Translations:
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Burrow
Dansk (Danish)
n. - rævebo, kaninhule, løbegang, hule
v. intr. - grave løbegang, grave hule, grave sig ned
v. tr. - grave
Nederlands (Dutch)
hol, schuilplaats, leger, wroeten, (zich) nestelen, (een leger) graven, in een leger schuilen
Français (French)
n. - tanière, terrier
v. intr. - creuser un terrier, creuser (la terre), (fig) fouiller
v. tr. - creuser
Deutsch (German)
n. - Bau
v. - buddeln
Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - σκάβω λαγούμι, ανοίγω τρύπα, χώνομαι σε τρύπα, (μτφ.) (ξε)σκαλίζω, ανασκαλεύω
n. - λαγούμι, φωλιά
Italiano (Italian)
scavare, rintanarsi, tana
Português (Portuguese)
v. - escavar
n. - toca (f), cova (f)
Русский (Russian)
рыть нору, рыться, нора
Español (Spanish)
n. - cubil, guarida, madriguera
v. intr. - escarbar, hurgar
v. tr. - escarbar, hurgar
Svenska (Swedish)
v. - göra en håla, gräva
n. - håla, lya
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
洞穴, 藏身处, 掘洞穴, 钻研, 掘, 打洞
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 洞穴, 藏身處
v. intr. - 掘洞穴, 鑽研
v. tr. - 掘, 打洞
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 구멍, 은신처
v. intr. - 구멍을 파다, 구멍 속에 살다
v. tr. - ~에 구멍을 파다, ~에 잠복하다
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 穴, 隠れ場
v. - 掘る, 掘り進む, 隠れる, 潜り込む, 捜す, 穴を掘って進む
العربيه (Arabic)
(فعل) حفر جحرا, عاش في جحر, نبش, نقب بحثا عن (الاسم) جحر, مخبأ في الأرض للحيوانات
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - מחילה, מאורה, שוחה
v. intr. - התחבא, חי במחילה, חפר, חקר
v. tr. - חפר
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 byHoughton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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