DEN (denned, denning)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: denned    , denning   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does den mean? 

• DEN (noun)
  The noun DEN has 4 senses:

1. the habitation of wild animals

2. a hiding place; usually a remote place used by outlaws

3. a unit of 8 to 10 cub scouts

4. a room that is comfortable and secluded

  Familiarity information: DEN used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The habitation of wild animals

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

den; lair

Hypernyms ("den" is a kind of...):

habitation (the native habitat or home of an animal or plant)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A hiding place; usually a remote place used by outlaws

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

den; hideaway; hideout

Hypernyms ("den" is a kind of...):

hiding place (a place suitable for hiding something (such as yourself))

Sense 3

Meaning:

A unit of 8 to 10 cub scouts

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("den" is a kind of...):

social unit; unit (an organization regarded as part of a larger social group)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A room that is comfortable and secluded

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("den" is a kind of...):

room (an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling)

Holonyms ("den" is a part of...):

abode; domicile; dwelling; dwelling house; habitation; home (housing that someone is living in)

 Context examples 

We should be rich men if we had £ 1000 for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Through the dim smoke-haze the bunks looked like the sleeping dens of animals in a menagerie.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Amidst all this, I had to listen as well as watch: to listen for the movements of the wild beast or the fiend in yonder side den.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Now, what in the world is Mr. James Wilder doing in that den at this hour of night, and who is the companion who comes to meet him there?

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You saw the horrible den upstairs, where the poor lady had been kept so long.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Who can follow an animal which can traverse the sea of ice and inhabit caves and dens where no man would venture to intrude?

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

"Bourgeois," "trader's den"—Brissenden's epithets repeated themselves in his mind.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Have you seen that awful den of hellish infamy—with the very moonlight alive with grisly shapes, and every speck of dust that whirls in the wind a devouring monster in embryo?

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Did you ever see such a den, my dear?

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

His bedstead, covered with a tumbled and ragged piece of patchwork, was in the den he had come from, where another little window showed a prospect of more stinging-nettles, and a lame donkey.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)