lion's den

English

Alternative forms

• lions' den
• lion's-den (archaic)
• lions'-den (archaic)

Etymology

From Daniel in the lions' den, Chapter 6 of the Book of Daniel.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

lion's den (plural lions' dens)

1. (idiomatic) Any dangerous or frightening place.
   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter XL, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     Mrs. Bowls cautioned her lodger against venturing into the lion's den, "wherein you will rue it, Miss B., mark my words, and as sure as my name is Bowls."

   • 1913, Sax Rohmer, chapter 24, in The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu:

     Despite the girl's assurance, we knew that proximity to the sinister Chinaman must be fraught with danger. We stood, not in the lion's den, but in the serpent's lair.

   • 2012, Katy Perry, Max Martin, Bonnie McKee, Dr. Luke, Cirkut (lyrics and music), “Wide Awake”, in Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection‎^[1], performed by Katy Perry:

     Yeah, I am born again / Out of the lion's den / I don't have to pretend / (And it's too late) / The story's over now, the end

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lion,‎ den.

Synonyms

• dragon's den

Translations

a dangerous or frightening place

• Catalan: fossa dels lleons
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 龍潭／龙潭 (zh) (lóngtán) (dragon's pool), 虎穴 (zh) (hǔxué) (tiger's den)

• Dutch: hol van de leeuw n
• French: gueule du loup f, fosse aux lions (fr)
• German: Höhle des Löwen f
• Italian: antro (it) m, tana (it) f, covo (it) m, fossa del leone f, fossa dei leoni
• Japanese: 虎穴 (ja) (koketsu) (tiger's den)
• Polish: w paszczy lwa
• Portuguese: cova dos leões
• Romanian: groapa cu lei
• Russian: во́лчье ло́гово n (vólčʹje lógovo) (wolf's lair)
• Spanish: foso de los leones
• Swedish: lejonkula
• Turkish: kurtlar sofrası

Anagrams

• indenols