warren

Meaning

Noun

• The system of burrows where rabbits live.
• A mazelike place of passages and/or rooms in which it's easy to lose oneself; especially one that may be overcrowded.
• The class of small game such as hare, pheasants, stoats, etc., as opposed to beasts of chase such as deer, bear, and foxes.
• A place legally authorized for the keeping, breeding and hunting of beasts of warren, especially rabbits.
• The right to maintain and hunt an area of small beasts, similar to a free warren, but with certain limitations, such as restricting the right to hunt on parts of the land held by freeholders.

Origin

• From Middle English warenne, from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French warenne (compare Old French guarenne, garenne), probably ultimately from Frankish *warjan, from Proto-Germanic *warjaną ("ward off, defend against"); compare also Old French warir, guarir, a borrowing from this Germanic root. Alternatively from Gaulish *warrennā ("enclosed area"), from *warros, Proto-Celtic *warrā ("post, prop").