Literally, a rabbit hole is what the animal digs for its home. The earliest written record of the phrase dates back to the 17th century. But the figurative rabbit hole begins with Lewis Carroll’s 1865 classic, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. In its opening chapter, “Down the Rabbit-Hole,” Alice follows the White Rabbit into his burrow, which transports her to the strange, surreal, and nonsensical world of Wonderland.
Lots of dictionary definitions consider the rabbit hole an unpleasant and unfamiliar place. I prefer this explanation: when someone goes “down the rabbit hole,” it means there is a certain topic, activity, or thing that intrigues them. Consequently, they want to explore this topic, activity, or thing further so they can learn more about it.
And what did I learn from the rabit hole about rabbit holes? That rabbits are crafty when they build mazes called warrens.
Rabbits have a system of living as a community in the wild. Not just one rabbit hole, but a warren. “Warrens are complex underground networks of highly engineered and interconnected burrows with a zigzag formation to help confuse instead of outrunning their predators.” Now how else would I have discovered this potentially valuable trivia? No one will laugh when I win big on Jeopardy with the warren question.