den

 
Pronunciation: /dɛn/

noun

  • 1a wild mammal’s hidden home; a lair: a female mink had set up her den there
  • informal a room or hideout where a person can go to relax or be private: Harriet built a den in a tree
  • a place where people meet in secret, typically to engage in an illicit activity: an opium den a den of iniquity
  • 2chiefly US a small subdivision of a Cub Scout pack.

verb (dens, denning, denned)

[no object]
  • (of a wild animal) live in a den: the cubs denned in the late autumn

Origin:

Old English denn, of Germanic origin; related to German Tenne 'threshing floor', also to dene1