▪ I. burrow, n.1
(ˈbʌrəʊ)
Forms: 4 borwȝ, 4–6 borow, 6 boroughe, 6–7 borough, burrowe, bury, 7 burrough(e, 7– burrow, (9 ? dial. bury, burry). See also berry n.3
[Of somewhat obscure origin. The forms are identical with those of borough, of which the word is commonly regarded as a variant; but the sense is not known to have belonged to OE. burh, ON. borg, or to the parallel form in any Teut. lang. Possibly it may be a special use of borough 1, stronghold; or else a derivative (unrecorded in OE. and ON.) of *burg- ablaut-stem of OTeut. *bergan to shelter, protect; cf. bury v., buriels. The forms bury, berry n.3 may perhaps be connected with bergh n. protection, shelter.]
1. A hole or excavation made in the ground for a dwelling-place by rabbits, foxes and the like.
| c 1360 Will. Palerne 9 By-side þe borwȝ þere þe barn was inne. 1382 Wyclif Matt. viii. 20 Foxis han dichis, or borowis, and briddis of the eir han nestis. 1538 Leland Itin. V. 59 There is nothing now but a Fox borow. 1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII, xi, Rabettes, in or vpon any bury. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 504 The wood Torteise..maketh her borough in the woods. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 173 Leaving places on the sides for the Coneys to draw and make their Stops or Buries. 1759 Johnson Rasselas 35 The conies which the rain had driven from their burrows. 1832 H. Martineau Ella of Gar. iii. 37 To hunt the puffins out of their burrows in the rock. 1849 Murchison Siluria iii. 40 The burrows..made by Crustaceans. 1879 Jefferies Wild Life in S.C. 38 In heavy rain..they [rabbits] generally remain within their buries. |
† b. A burrowing; any small tubular excavation, or underground passage. Obs.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 607 The burroughes [of the internal ear] in their inward superficies are inuested with a very soft and fine membrane. 1662 J. Chandler Van Helmont's Oriat. 82 Fiery Mines or Burroughs. |
2. transf. and fig. A secluded or small hole-like dwelling-place, or place of retreat; a ‘hole’.
| 1650 Weldon Crt. Jas. I (1651) 44 This fellow knew his Burrough well enough. 1790 Boswell Johnson (1816) III. 409 The chief advantage of London is, that a man is always so near his burrow. 1835 Sir J. Ross N.-W. Pass. xxix. 408 A fresh breeze made our burrow colder than was agreeable. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 130 Within a few miles of Dublin, the traveller..saw..the miserable burrows out of which squalid..barbarians stared wildly. |
3. Comb., as † burrow-headed a., ? given to searching things out, inquisitive, curious (obs.).
| 1650 B. Discolliminium 17 Over-brain'd Burrow-headed Men, restlesse in studying new things. |
▪ II. ˈburrow, n.2 dial. or techn.
Forms: 5 boroughe, burgh, 7 borough, 7– burrow. See also barrow n.1
[The form taken in some parts of Engl., esp. Cornwall, by the OE. beorᵹ, ME. berȝ, berw, borȝ, borw, burgh hill, of which the more general representative is barrow n.1, and a by-form berry n.2, q.v.]
A heap or mound; in earlier use a hillock; now, esp. a heap of refuse made in mining or beat-burning. See beat-borough under beat n.3
| 885–1393 [see barrow n.1]. 1480 Robt. Devyll 20 Farre from boroughe or hyll. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 314/1 This holy man sawe upon the burgh on the ground the deuyls makyng joye. 1602 Carew Cornwall 19 b, Before ploughing time, they scatter abroad those Beat-boroughs..upon the ground. Ibid. (1723) 148 a, One Gidly..digged downe a little hillocke, or Borough. 1663 Charleton Chor. Gigant. 39 Those Tumuli, or (as we call them) Burrows. 1696 C. Merret in Phil. Trans. XIX. 351 Hills..called Burrows..supposed to be Sepulchral Monuments. 1784 Twamley Dairying 125 Prepare a burrow of soil..from old Turf. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts I. 550 Burrow, a miner's term for a heap of rubbish. 1880 East Cornw. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Burrow, a mound or heap; a sepulchral tumulus. Beat-burrow, a heap of burnt turves. |
▪ III. ˈburrow, n.3 dial.
[:—OE. beorᵹ, beorh fem. (only in compounds), ᵹebeorh neut. ME. bergh, shelter, f. beorᵹan to shelter, bergh.]
Shelter.
| 1577 Harrison England i. ii. xxiv. 358 Enclosed burrowes where their legions accustomed..to winter. Ibid. 360 The boroughs or buries were certeine plots of ground, whereon the Roman souldiers did use to lie, when they kept in the open field. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xviii. vi. 114 Flat levell and plaine fields not able to affoord us..any borough to shelter us [latibula præbere sufficiens]. 1867 Leisure Hour 352 Where there has been convenient shelter or burrow, as it is called in Oxfordshire, from the wind. |
▪ IV. † ˈburrow, n.4 Obs.
Another form of borough, burgh. Used also in plural for the Burgesses, or representatives of the Burghs or ‘Commonalty’ in the Scottish parliament. Cf. burgess.
| 1634–46 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 135 Many commissioners being assembled, they were parted in three, barrons, burrowes, ministers. 1642 Declar. Lords & Comm. to Gen. Ass. Ch. Scot., Lond. 10 The Nobility, Gentry, Burrowes, Ministers and Commons. 1650 Row (son) Hist. Kirk (1842) 486 The gentrie by themselves, the burrows by themselves. |
▪ V. † ˈburrow, n.5 Obs.
Another form of burr n.1, brough; a circle of light about the moon.
| 1499 Promp. Parv., Burrowe [1440 Burwhe, sercle], orbiculus. 1656 W. Dugard Gate Lang. Unl. vi. (1659) §64 A circle (Burrow) about the moon foresheweth wet..weather. |
▪ VI. burrow, v.1
(ˈbʌrəʊ)
[f. burrow n.1]
1. intr. Of animals: To make a burrow or small excavation, esp. as a hiding- or dwelling-place.
| 1771 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LXII. 10 They..burrow under ground. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 218 Their dens which they [alligators] form by burrowing far under ground. 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 307 The larvæ burrow in the wood. 1831 Southey Lit. Bk. in Green & G. Wks. X. 380 Worms..Burrowing safely in thy side. |
b. fig. To lodge as in a burrow, hide oneself.
| 1614 T. Adams Divell's Banq. 47 These Monsters are in the Wildernesse! No they borough in Sion. 1640 Bastwick Lord Bps. vi. F ij, These Lordly Prelates..will not suffer any one..to burrow within their Diocese. a 1848 Marryat R. Reefer vii, We were forced to burrow in mean lodgings. 1884 W. C. Smith Kildrostan 95 Some dim cave where he [an anchorite] had burrowed With bats and owls. |
c. fig. To bore, penetrate, or make one's way under the surface; also to burrow one's way.
| 1804 Abernethy Surg. Observ. 169, I have known many diseases which burrow. 1831 Brewster Newton (1855) II. xxiv. 340 To burrow for heresy among the obscurities of thought. 1836–9 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. II. 637/1 The ulcer..as it burrows deeply..may perforate the muscular wall. 1851 Gladstone Glean. VI. xliii. 29 Each local body has to find, I should say rather to burrow its own way. 1859 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. II. 260 We were burrowing through its bewildering passages. |
2. a. refl. with pass. pple.: To hide away in, or as in, a burrow.
| 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. ix. li. 233 These lie burrowed, safe from skath. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. i. 221 An infant..Left by neglect, and burrowed in that bed. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. v. v. 282 A blustering Effervescence, of brawlers and spouters, which, at the flash of chivalrous broadswords..will burrow itself in dens. |
b. trans. With into. To sink or ‘bury’ (one's head, etc.) in. Cf. bury v. 4 a.
| 1915 J. Buchan 39 Steps iii. 61 He swung his heels up on the seat, and burrowed a frowsy head into the cushions. 1982 T. Keneally Schindler's Ark ii. 53 The other Jews in the office bowed their heads and burrowed their eyes into worksheets. |
3. trans. To construct by burrowing, to excavate.
| 1831 Q. Rev. XLIV. 357 Most of their habitations were wretched cabins..burrowed in the sides of the mountains. |
▪ VII. † ˈburrow, v.2 Obs. rare—1.
[f. burrow n.3, or var. of bergh v.]
trans. To protect, to shelter.
| 1657 Austen Fruit Trees i. 116 Hills, houses or such like, to burrow or shelter it from the North..winds. |