DictionaryAI

warren

noun
USWAWR-uhn/ˈwɔɹən/UKWOR-uhn/ˈwɒɹən/

Pluralwarrens

5 meanings of warren

Practice

  1. 1
    nouncountable
    A group of holes and tunnels in the ground where rabbits live.

    The rabbits ran back into their warren when the dog barked.

    There are three big warrens at the edge of the field.

    Note
  2. 2
    nounfigurativelycountable
    A place with so many halls, rooms or streets that you can easily get lost, often a very crowded one.

    The old hospital is a warren of hallways, and I got lost twice.

    The market is a warren of tiny stalls packed with shoppers.

    Similarmaze, labyrinth

    Note
  3. 3
    nouncountable
    Land where the law allows people to keep, breed and hunt rabbits and other small animals.

    The family kept a warren on the hill, where they raised rabbits for meat.

    Only the owner's friends were allowed to hunt in the warren.

    Note
  4. 4
    nounhistoricalcountable
    In the past, a right given by law to keep and hunt small animals on an area of land, with some limits.

    The king gave the abbey a warren over its fields.

    Warren grants contained prohibitions on fishing more frequently than forest grants did.
    1988, David Maxwell Walker, A Legal History of Scotland: The beginnings to A.D. 1286Here, warren means a legal right to keep and hunt small animals on land.
    Note

Less common meaning

  1. 5
    nounarchaic
    The group of small animals people hunted, like hares and pheasants, not bigger ones like deer and foxes.

    Hares and rabbits were beasts of warren, so only the lord could hunt them here.

    Grouse are not birds of warren ( 2 ); and trespass on a free warren will not lie for shooting them .
    1844, Archibald John Stephens, George SharswoodHere, warren means small hunted animals like hares, not big game like deer.
    Note

Practice

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Origin

From an old French word for a park kept for game animals. This probably came from a Germanic word meaning "to defend", or possibly from a Gaulish word for an enclosed area.