den
Plural: dens
Noun
- the habitation of wild animals
- a hiding place; usually a remote place used by outlaws
- a unit of 8 to 10 cub scouts
- a room that is comfortable and secluded
- A small cavern or hollow place in the side of a hill, or among rocks; especially, a cave used by a wild animal for shelter or concealment.
- A squalid or wretched place; a haunt.
- A comfortable room not used for formal entertaining.
- Synonym of fort (“structure improvised from furniture, etc. for playing games.”).
- A narrow glen; a ravine; a dell.
- A group of Cub Scouts of the same age who work on projects together.
- Abbreviation of denier (a unit of weight).
- Alternative form of dene.
Verb
Verb Forms: denned, denning, dens
- To live or hide in a den.
- To ensconce or hide oneself in (or as in) a den.
- Of an animal, to use as a den; to take up residence in.
Adv
- Pronunciation spelling of then, representing AAVE, Bermuda English.
Examples
- a den of robbers
- a den of vice
- an opium den; a gambling den
- Daniel was put into the lions’ den.
- Our little girls love using bedsheets and other stuff around the house to make dens in the living room and pretending they're on adventures.
- The lone ’Q’ tile seemed to den on his rack, waiting for a perfect vowel.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English den, from Old English denn (“den, lair (of a beast), cave; a swine-pasture, a woodland pasture for swine”), from Proto-West Germanic *dani (“threshing-floor, barn-floor”). Cognate with Scots den (“den, lair”), Middle Dutch denne (“burrow, den, cave, attic”), Dutch den (“ship's deck, threshing-floor, mountain floor”), Middle Low German denne, danne (“threshing-floor, small dale”), German Tenne (“threshing-floor, barn for threshing”).
Synonyms
hideaway, hideout, lair, Wiktionary appendix of animal terms, including their homes, family room, fort, luster
Scrabble Score: 4
den: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordden: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
den: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary