burrowing
Making underground passages
Burrowing is the act of digging into ground or soft material to create a tunnel or hole, as animals do for shelter: The rabbit was burrowing under the fence.
Extended to any persistent pushing or nestling into something: burrowing under the covers, burrowing through old files.
The word suggests determined, sustained effort to penetrate or settle in.
Subterranean insectivore
- gopherBurrowing North American rodent
- groundhogNorth American burrowing marmot
- prairie dogColonial burrowing grassland rodent
- badgerNag persistently
wombat · aardvark · armadillo · vole · chipmunk · woodchuck · rabbit · naked mole-rat
Enclosed underground route
- holeAbsence in matter
- excavationAct of unearthing
- denPrivate room or lair
- warrenInterconnected underground tunnels
sett · soil · dirt · earth · claws · snout · digging · underground
Private room or lair
- lairAnimal's hidden dwelling
- warrenInterconnected underground tunnels
- settBadger's underground home
- nestAnimal-built shelter for young
refuge · hideaway · retreat · sanctuary · haven · chamber · nursery · hibernaculum
Making a dwelling
- hibernationProlonged winter dormancy
- hoardingExcessive accumulation of goods
- foragingSeeking wild food sources
- tunnelingDigging underground passages
denning · excavating · caching · breeding · territorial · nocturnal · thermoregulation · aestivation
Researching intensively
- probingThoroughly investigating something
- investigatingSeeking facts systematically
- searchingLooking to find
- immersingPlunging completely into
embedding · nestling · hunkering · ensconcing · hiding · retreating · cocooning · withdrawing
mole
Subterranean insectivore
- gopherBurrowing North American rodent
- groundhogNorth American burrowing marmot
- prairie dogColonial burrowing grassland rodent
badger · wombat · aardvark · armadillo · vole · chipmunk · woodchuck · rabbit · naked mole-rat · meerkat
tunnel
Enclosed underground route
- holeAbsence in matter
- excavationAct of unearthing
- denPrivate room or lair
warren · sett · soil · dirt · earth · claws · snout · digging · underground · passage
den
Private room or lair
nest · refuge · hideaway · retreat · sanctuary · haven · chamber · nursery · hibernaculum · bolt-hole
nesting
Making a dwelling
- hibernationProlonged winter dormancy
- hoardingExcessive accumulation of goods
- foragingSeeking wild food sources
tunneling · denning · excavating · caching · breeding · territorial · nocturnal · thermoregulation · aestivation
delving
Researching intensively
- probingThoroughly investigating something
- investigatingSeeking facts systematically
- searchingLooking to find
immersing · embedding · nestling · hunkering · ensconcing · hiding · retreating · cocooning · withdrawing · entrenching
- survival strategieshibernation, mimicry, dormancy, predation, territoriality
- bioturbationtunneling, worm castings, ant mounds
- spadefoot toadstadpoles
- adaptationnatural selection, evolution, mimicry, camouflage, hibernation
- animal adaptationscamouflage, webbed feet, filter feeding, thick fur, blubber
- animal behaviorsswimming, running, walking, jumping, flying
burrowingsurfacing
Coming to the surface
emerging · rising · ascending · unearthing · coming up
burrowingarboreal
Of or in trees
aerial · tree-dwelling · perching · free-ranging · flying
burrowingfilling
Material placed within
covering · backfilling · filling in · burying · sealing
- burrowing animalAnimal that digs tunnels
- burrowing owlSubterranean-dwelling small raptor
- burrowing mammalsAnimals that excavate underground
burrow, burrows, burrowed, subterranean, burrower, burrowers