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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. The shelter or retreat of a wild animal; a lair.
  2. n. A cave or hollow used as a refuge or hiding place.
  3. n. A hidden or squalid dwelling place: a den of thieves.
  4. n. A secluded room for study or relaxation.
  5. n. A unit of about eight to ten Cub Scouts.
  6. v. To inhabit or hide in a den.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A hollow place in the earth or in a rock; a cave, pit, or subterraneous recess, used for concealment, shelter, protection, or security: as, a lion's den.
  2. n. A grave.
  3. n. Any squalid place of resort or residence; a haunt: always used in a bad sense: as, dens of misery.
  4. n. A small or secluded private apartment; a retreat for work or leisure.
  5. To dwell in or as if in a den.
  6. n. A narrow valley; a glen; a dell.
  7. n. A corruption of even in the phrase good even.

Wiktionary

  1. n. The home of certain animals.
  2. n. A comfortable room not used for formal entertaining.
  3. v. To ensconce or hide oneself in (or as in) a den.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. 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
  2. n. A squalid place of resort; a wretched dwelling place; a haunt.
  3. n. Any snug or close retreat where one goes to be alone.
  4. n. A narrow glen; a ravine; a dell.
  5. v. To live in, or as in, a den.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a room that is comfortable and secluded
  2. n. a hiding place; usually a remote place used by outlaws
  3. n. the habitation of wild animals
  4. n. a unit of 8 to 10 cub scouts

Etymologies

  1. Middle English, from Old English denn.

Examples

  • “January 22, 2008 at 8:05 am mai brudder took Barbie and tieded a string on her nek and dunkeded her in gasoline and sets her ablazin den he swings her aroun in big circle ober his hed while he be chasin me…..ai thought it was her screemin den ai real-eyezed it be me screamin….taked me yeers to get bedder…..den ai foun out ai be good at fixin burns an helpin sik peeps….da rest be hiss-teree!”

    hoo turn off mah bubblez? - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?

  • “In Swedish the word den meant “the,” but döve was not a white bird of peace.”

    Simon & Schuster: Eight Black Horses

  • “Again and again he interrupted her to express his doubt on that point, and when dinner was over and Mrs. Bannister had retired, and we were smoking in the room which he called his den, he unmasked to me a mind weary of working over nothing.”

    David Malcolm

  • “He took the boy in and up to the little room on the second floor which he called his den; and, turning on the light, motioned him to a chair, laid aside his hat and gloves, and was just about to pull up a chair for himself when he caught sight of an unstamped letter lying upon his writing-table.”

    Cleek: the Man of the Forty Faces

  • “I might have understood how clumsy I was, when I was rearing my children in the most utter idleness and luxury, to reform other people and their children, who were perishing from idleness in what I called the den of the Rzhanoff house, where, nevertheless, three-fourths of the people toil for themselves and for others.”

    What to Do?

  • “But she called it his "den", and Sabre loathed and detested the word den as applied to a room a man specially inhabits.”

    If Winter Comes

  • “Meine Antwort war, dass ich in den letzten 10 Jahren einige Male in Kalifornien war und die westliche USA einfach liebe, besonders den Südwesten.”

    Guest Author: Michelle Raven

  • “Vermutlich nicht, da ich in den USA völlig unbekannt bin und bisher auch kein Mega-Bestseller-Autor in Deutschland.”

    Guest Author: Michelle Raven

  • “In Deutschland war Michaela in den frühen 70er Jahren ein sehr beliebter Name.”

    Guest Author: Michelle Raven

  • “Auch wenn ich jetzt vorgreife, sind in den Fortsetzungen die Personen der früheren Bücher miteinander verbunden?”

    Guest Author: Michelle Raven

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Lists

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Comments

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‘den’ has been looked up 2256 times, loved by 1 person, added to 14 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 4.