den
29
1.0
- noun
- /dɛn/
- Mother bears and their cubs leaving dens earlier in the spring isn't due to snow melting.
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Watch on YouTubeSo basically he's sending a small mouse into a lion's den.
- So basically he's sending a small mouse into a lion's den.
Examples
-
Perhaps at this time of year, all the bears were asleep in their dens.
Fiction book (2001) -
Bears start moving toward their winter dens and are less visible.
Blog text (5) -
In the summer, it's probably got a den of foxes living in it.
-
For example, polar bears have been entering dens later and leaving them earlier than they did three decades ago.
Blog text (15) -
The bears dug comfortable dens in shallow caves.
Fiction book (1997) -
Rivers have otters, and otters have dens throughout the river.
Academic text (1994) -
The lonely box-like farmhouses on the ridges suddenly appeared to me like the dens of wild animals.
Academic text (2006) -
Her father, Grant, spent his days studying black bears in Minnesota, sneaking into their hibernation dens to change the batteries in their collars.
Fiction book (1998) -
Hyena dens are often abandoned warthog burrows or under rocky boulders, especially in plains where there are no natural cavities.
Academic text (2005) -
In the spring, you may see baby rabbits playing near their den in the tall grass.
Synonyms
93
4.9
A hidden place where a wild animal lives and rests
Idioms
- Informal
1
9.9
To confront a powerful person directly in their own place
Compounds
How Sheltered
Surface Forms
Etymology
Den comes from an old English word denn that meant an animal's 'home' or 'lair'. So a den is still the place where a wild animal lives or sleeps.